Shadows Beneath The Umbrella
by EnchantedtoMeetYou
Summary: New Directions is about to discover that behind the walls of St. James Manor are secrets and horrific things that should only exist in nightmares. It is up to Rachel and Jesse to solve the mysteries within in order to survive. Rated M for violence, sexual content, and death.
1. Missing

**A/N: This is a Glee/Resident Evil crossover fic that will feature our Gleeks in similar situations to some of the original Resident Evil games. Even if you're not familiar with Resident Evil, I'll make sure to include all the necessary details so that everyone may follow the story without getting confused. Because this is connected with RE, this means that The Umbrella Corporation exists in this universe and there will be zombies and all sorts of genetically mutated creatures for our characters to come across. In addition to our usual characters, there will also be Jesse's younger siblings from my head canon, Lacey and Kristian. This is a survival horror story with some romance and a lot of mystery. Expect a lot of death and tragedy. If you're still interested after reading this, then continue on and thank you for giving it a shot. **

* * *

><p>Just outside the outskirts of Akron, Ohio was an old estate that many locals and travelers who drove by and always wondered about. It wasn't uncommon for people to stop their cars on the side of the road to take a look at the grand mansion. Much of the view of it was cut off by the trees that were carefully planted behind the tall black iron gates of the estate to provide the owners with as much privacy as possible. Despite that, onlookers could still tell that the home was enormous from the little view they had. People would always question the same things. Who lived there? What on earth was their profession that allowed them to be able to afford such an enormous piece of architecture that resembled that of a museum? The locals knew who lived there, though they never saw or heard from them very much because they were always busy working or on vacation. They saw it as a shame that the owners of the place could never fully appreciate the beauty of their home because they were so rarely in it.<p>

A black Range Rover pulled up just outside the old gate that bore the insignia of the crest with a lion belonging to the family that resided there. Inside the car sat a young man of nineteen waiting impatiently for one of the guards to come out and unlock the gates to grant him entrance. Drumming his fingers along the steering wheel, he leaned his head back against the head rest and sighed. Muttering a few curses under his breath, he finally resorted to opening the door and stepping out to get it open himself. His designer boots hit the gravel outside the gate with a crunch as he stepped out of his vehicle and walked over to the small box on the far side of the fence. As he reached for the key pad, he glanced up at the surveillance camera positioned right above him that was following his every move. Turning his attention back to the key pad, he entered the password to manually unlock the gates to the manor. Upon entering the final digit to the code, the red light above the keypad turned a bright green to let him know that he had entered it correctly.

A loud click rang out as the gate unlocked and swung open to allow him to enter. Stepping back in his Range Rover, he restarted the car and drove up the winding path that led to the mansion before the gates swung shut again to secure the estate. On his way to the building, he glanced over at the booth where the security guard usually stood watch, but noticed that he was nowhere to be found. Shaking his head, he parked the car in the driveway next to a few of his father's sports cars parked nearby. Grabbing the duffle bag of his things on the passenger's seat, he stepped out of his car and climbed the stone steps and passed through the marble columns that led to the grand front entrance. Reaching into his jacket pocket, he pulled out an old key that also bore the family crest on it to unlock the double doors.

It had been quite some time since he had been in his old home and he found himself looking around at the vast entrance hall to see if anything had changed since then. Not very much had. There was still the same old red carpet that started at the front door and worked its way up the great mahogany staircase in the center of the hall. The staircase reached up to the second floor and diverted in two paths on the left and right that wrapped around the entire top floor of the entrance hall and led to a few doors. Up in the center wall above the staircase was a large life sized portrait of the family from a few years ago. There was a stern and dignified looking man with brown curls that matched the young man looking up at it. The only difference was the flecks of gray and slight age lines on his face to show the age difference. Next to the man in the portrait was his blonde wife who, while she had a softer look on her face, still looked as high society and dignified as her husband. Her hand rested on her daughter who stood next to her twin brother. Both of the fraternal twins had blondish hair and brown eyes like their mother. On the right corner next to the twins stood a younger version of the young man looking up at the portrait from downstairs. His striking blue-grey eyes matched that of his father's. The painter had gotten every detail of his incredibly handsome features, down to the smirk that usually played upon his lips.

The portrait was one of the many hanging on the walls in the mansion. His father had insisted that it be covered with them so that their home could look as rich and high class as possible. It was obviously to intimidate people who came over to visit and it worked a lot of the time.

Shaking his head at the portrait, the young man turned right to one of the first doors in the entrance hall. Pulling it open, he found himself in a large room that was the closest thing to a living room that the house had. Sitting on one of the large black couches were slightly older versions of the twins from the portrait.

Turning her head to the door, the girl jumped up from where she sat and bolted towards him for a hug.

"Jesse, you're here!" she sighed as she wrapped her arms around her older brother.

Jesse looked down at his sister with a half smile and nodded.

"How have you been, Lace?" he asked.

His eyes followed their brother, Kristian, as he scoffed and went to go stand in the corner with his arms crossed.

"We've been managing," Lacey muttered as she pulled away from the hug and ran her hand through her wavy dark blonde hair.

Jesse's eyes scanned his sister and he noticed how much thinner she had gotten since the last time he had seen her before he left for UCLA after graduating at Carmel. It wasn't that she lost any baby fat because she was already thin when he had last seen her. Now his eighteen year old sister was so thin that she almost looked sick. His frown deepened as he understood that her bulimia was probably worse these days. She had dark circles under her big brown eyes and her complexion was a little off color.

"Great of you to finally show up," muttered Lacey's twin brother, Kristian, from the corner.

Turning his attention to his brother, he noticed that he too had changed over the time that had passed. His wavy blonde hair was unkempt and had grown long past his dark brown eyes. He could just hear his father's voice scolding Kristian in his head in an attempt to get him to comb his hair. Kristian's eyes lacked any trace of warmth as he stared down his older brother coldly. Jesse couldn't quite put his finger on it, but there was something else quite off about his brother that made him look slightly unhinged. Jesse knew that Kristian had been messing with drugs before he left, but now he looked so much worse.

The drastic change in both of his siblings put Jesse on edge slightly. How bad could things have gotten in his absence that it left his brother and sister looking the way they did? Lacey appeared shaky and fragile while Kristian appeared insane and even sicker than before.

"With Mom and Dad gone, I still can't decide if I should be worried or relieved," Lacey said from where she stood next to Jesse with her arms wrapped around herself.

"It's no big deal, Lace. It's not like they ever paid much attention to us when they actually were around, anyway. Unless they wanted to toss you around or belittle us…" Kristian muttered bitterly.

"What the hell is he talking about?" Jesse asked, looking back to his sister with a small trace of concern in his eyes.

Lacy looked down and pulled her sleeves over her hands. Shaking her head, she walked past Jesse and over to the door leading back to the entrance hall.

"It's nothing," she whispered before leaving.

Kristian followed after his twin sister, but stopped in front of Jesse with a glare.

"What do you care anyway?" he spat before continuing on his way to the door. "Just stop pretending like you actually give a damn and go back to doing whatever it was you were doing only thinking about yourself. We don't need you."

Alone now, Jesse walked over to the fireplace and leaned against it with a frustrated sigh. He noticed a picture frame turned down and grabbed it to put it back up. When he saw the picture of him and his brother and sister laughing together so many years ago, he felt a deep pang of guilt rip through him. His siblings looked so much happier and healthier then. Things weren't that great before he left, but they were obviously a lot better than they were now. Some things must have happened in his absence to affect them like this and to make Kristian so bitter towards him for not being around to stop it.

Whatever it was, he was determined to find out and try and make it right.

* * *

><p>The bell rang to signal the end of another school day, but instead of going home, the members of New Directions gathered in the choir room like they usually did on Thursday afternoons. Many of them took their usual seats in the chairs at the back of the room while Kurt and Blaine sat at the piano working on something while they waited for Mr. Schuester, Brad, and the band to show up for rehearsals.<p>

The door swung open and in walked Rachel Berry briskly and more excited than she usually was for rehearsals. Clutching a white flyer in her hand, she stood in the center of the room in front of the piano as she raised her hands for everyone's attention.

"Attention Glee Clubbers!" she squealed, looking out at the rest of her teammates with a huge smile.

The sound of the music from the piano stopped as Kurt and Blaine turned their attention to Rachel.

"What's got you looking like you just downed an entire crate of Red Bull?" asked Puck with a cocked eyebrow.

"Seriously, are you taking those Vitamin D pills again?" asked Quinn.

"Or crack," muttered Santana.

When everyone looked over at her as though she had taken it too far, she simply shrugged and looked on at Rachel. Rachel's smile weakened for the slightest moment at her teammates' comments, but she refused to let them put a damper on her excitement. Straightening her vintage lavender mini dress, she held her head high and looked back at her team confidently.

"Anyway, I've got news for you that's going to get you just excited as I am," she said with her hands on her hips.

"I don't think that's even possible, but go on," said Sam.

"I was browsing the Show Choir message boards to keep an eye on the competition as well as opportunities for us to take part in to help us out with future competitions, and I stumbled upon a contest sponsored by Umbrella Corporation… you know, the Pharmaceutical company from all the commercials on TV? Anyway, the contest is up by their headquarters in Akron this weekend. Apparently, they're trying to show a support for the arts in schools by reaching out to Show Choirs and the winning team gets full Umbrella sponsorship for a year. That means we'll never have to worry about fundraising for costumes or transportation costs and we can just focus on trying to win Regionals and Nationals. So I've signed us up!"

The rest of the team simply stared at Rachel for a moment as they tried to get a grasp of the mouthful she just said.

"Uhh, Rachel? Don't you think you should have spoken to us or Mr. Schue about that before you said we'd show?" asked Mercedes.

"Yeah, how are we going to even get the money to get to Akron?" asked Blaine from behind Rachel at the piano.

Biting her lip, Rachel turned to look at him.

"We can carpool?"

"And how are we going to even be ready to perform with a contest the day after tomorrow? We'd need to think up a set list and rehearse it and there's just no time," said Quinn with a frown.

Rachel scoffed and crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"We came up with our set list for Nationals overnight. It's not impossible, you guys. We just need to actually try!"

Her eyes moved to Finn who sat looking uncomfortable in the corner. She gave him a pleading look for him to come to her aid and support her, but he only shook his head.

"I don't know, Rachel. It's Christmas next week," he shrugged. "I'd rather take it easy and not have to sing for a while."

Her face fell for a second before she once again pulled herself together and looked back at the rest of the group. It was her last shot to get them to agree.

"Wouldn't it be a great Christmas present to the team if we won this? Think of what it could mean for us if we had such a huge company backing us up. Can't we just try?" she asked softly, looking out at them with big hopeful eyes.

The team exchanged looks as they silently deliberated. A few exchanged nods and sighs.

"I think Rachel's right. We can do this," said Kurt as he stood up and walked over to Rachel.

Leaning in slightly, he put his arm around her shoulder and gave her a small smile.

"Besides, if we win this it'll look _great_ on our NYADA application," he winked.

Having not even thought about that, Rachel's face lit up once more and she nodded.

"So what do you all say?" she asked, looking out at them with a confident smile.

Artie sighed and nodded.

"Alright. If Mr. Schue is down, then we're in it to win it," he said with his hands up.

Rachel squealed and flung her arms around Kurt, whispering a word of thanks for supporting her. After Glee Club ended later, she'd be sure to have a word with Finn over his lack of it. But right now there were much more important things to tend to.

"I already have a few potential song ideas for us to go over," she said as she spun on her heel to grab the red dry erase marker from the tray underneath the board. "How do you all feel about boy bands and girl groups?"

In the center of the board, she drew the red and white Umbrella logo with a huge smiley face on it before turning back to the rest of the team.

"Okay, let's start brainstorming."

* * *

><p>After grabbing all of the books she needed to look over for her holiday break assignments, she stuffed them into her already filled backpack in front of her locker. When she was done, she pushed the locker door to slam shut before walking out of the building and over to the parking lot to wait for Finn to drive her home. When he walked up behind her with his own backpack slung over his shoulder as well as some of his football equipment, she gave him a small smile.<p>

"That bag looks heavy," he observed.

"Yes, it is. Actually, could you—"

"Could you hold my football and helmet? My hands are full. Thanks," he said, dumping everything into her arms.

"Sure," she muttered quietly as she followed after him.

For a second, she had forgotten that she was irritated with him and that she wanted to have a word with him over what happened in the choir room. Being around Finn always seemed to have that kind of effect on her for some reason. Even when she was mad, his presence made her always forget it and put it aside. But right now, it just didn't feel right.

"Finn," she spoke up, following after him. "I can't carry these. My bag is already too heavy enough as it is and—"

"Alright, alright. Just dump them in the back," he said as he unlocked his truck and climbed in.

Rachel sighed and did as she was told before climbing into the passenger's seat.

When Finn' started the truck, the radio immediately went on and he reached for the dial to find a station with the kind of music he liked.

"Finn listen to me. I didn't appreciate how you left me hanging back there. As my co-captain and my boyfriend, you should have supported me. And I've noticed that you don't really—"

"Look Rachel, I just didn't agree with you. You can't expect me to back you up with everything."

"But you hardly ever do. You're supposed to support me. If the roles were reversed I would have been by your side in a second," she explained as she reached for the seatbelt and buckled it.

Sighing, Finn continued to fumble with the dial on the radio in between stations. When the name "St. James" was spoken by a radio announcer, Rachel immediately reached out to grab Finn's hand to stop him from changing it any further.

"Go back," she said quickly, swatting his hand away to turn the dial back a little to return to the station she heard the name on.

Biting her lip, she listened to the news reporter intently, wondering if the St. James being mentioned was the one she knew.

"_Police are still on the search for the missing husband and wife, Jensen and Katherine St. James—"_

"Oh my God, those are Jesse's parents!" she gasped.

Before Finn could say anything about Jesse, she reached out her hand to cover his mouth so she could listen to the rest of the report.

"_They were last seen by two of their children who had been residing with them at the old St. James Manor just outside Akron last Friday. Detectives are on the case to find the missing couple in hopes of bringing them back to their three children, Jesse, Kristian, and Lacey, safely. If anyone knows anything about the whereabouts of the two, police advise you to come forward with anything you might know... We'll move onto our next story about the animal attacks in the forest after a word from our sponsor, Umbrella Corporation... "_

"Well that sucks for Jesse," Finn muttered as he began pulling out of his parking space.

"It's terrible," she whispered.

Shaking her head, she looked over at her boyfriend with an extremely worried look on her face.

"When we got to Akron for the contest, I want to visit Jesse and see if he's okay," she said quietly.

"I don't really think that's a good idea. Jesse will only end up trying to hit on you or—"

"Finn, I wasn't asking for your permission," she snapped, losing her patience with him completely.

Taking a breath, she closed her eyes and calmed herself down.

"I'm going."


	2. Visit At The Manor

The St. James estate was probably the most heavily guarded home in the Akron area. Around the side of the mansion was a small courtyard where the St. James family would keep their trained attack dogs when they weren't out prowling the estate at night. Jesse never knew why his father insisted on having them because the estate was very well protected by guards around the clock. He never quite understood why the place needed such protecting when there was just a family living there. Sure, they were wealthy and had a lot of expensive things, but he didn't think it required this kind of a security measure. It always made him question whether or not there was something really valuable that his father never let him or the rest of his siblings know about. Whatever it was, it had to have been worth a fortune if he was that paranoid. His suspicions were only supported by the fact that his parents made it their number one rule for the children to never go snooping around to parts of the mansion where they weren't allowed. There were specific areas of the mansion which were off limits to them at all times no matter what. No exceptions. Their mother would tell them that there was some really priceless artifacts around the house that they didn't want to risk getting damaged or destroyed if any of the children went near them. But Jesse could always tell that there was something more. He could never quite put his finger on it, though.

His curiosity diminished once he started spending more time with his aunt and uncle in Lima. Once he joined Vocal Adrenaline in high school, he stopped caring about it entirely because performing was his main focus. Whatever his parents may or may not have in the home was of no concern to him anymore.

Now that he was back and his parents were missing, he found that the old curiosity was beginning to spark again. How could he be so sure that they were missing when the entire house had yet to be explored? Perhaps a real investigation was necessary. Like, CSI real. It was better than sitting around and waiting for answers to just show up from the police. Figuring that he'd start in his parents room, he climbed the grand staircase and made his way over to one of the doors on the far left. At the end of the hallway was the door to the master bedroom. Just as he was about to reach for the handle, the doorknob began turning from the other side.

Taking a step back, he watched as the door opened and Kristian walked out. The second he saw Jesse standing there in front of him, he jumped back slightly and swore out loud.

"God damn, what the hell are you doing here?" asked Kristian as he pulled the door shut behind him.

"I could ask you the same thing," Jesse replied suspiciously.

"I asked you first," said Kristian with his arms crossed.

Jesse looked his brother up and down incredulously and noticed something in Kristian's hand. The second Kristian saw where Jesse's eyes were at, he hid whatever he was holding behind his back.

"What's that?" Jesse asked, immediately reaching his hand to grab Kristian's arm.

"Don't touch me, Jesse," Kristian growled.

Just as a fight was about to ensue, the door to the hallway behind them opened and Lacey stood in the doorway.

"I don't know what you guys are doing, but we've got a problem," she said before turning out to lead them to the trouble.

Jesse gave Kristian a final suspicious look before turning back down the hall to follow his sister downstairs and out the main front door. Kristian followed behind him with his hands (and whatever it was he was hiding before) in his pockets. They walked around the right corner of the mansion towards the courtyard where the attack dogs were usually kept. Whenever he used to come out here to go see the dogs and maybe play fetch with one of them, they'd all start barking. But today, there were no such sounds. The only sounds that could be heard were from the wind blowing the nearby trees.

"I came down here to feed them because Dad let go of the caretakers not too long ago and well… they're gone," Lacey explained as she crouched down in front of one of the cages.

Crouching down next to her, Jesse examined one of the many cages that the dogs had gotten out of. A few of the cages were wide open while some of the metal wire doors had fallen completely off their hinges. This could only mean that the dogs had managed to all force their way out of their confined spaces.

"What the hell?" he whispered as he stood back up and dusted off his jeans. "Well, wherever they are, we should probably find them. Let's go."

Lacey followed after Jesse, but Kristian stood back.

"Like hell I am. I've got shit to do," he said as he turned around to head for one of the side entrances to the mansion.

"I wasn't asking you, Kris," Jesse said with his patience completely lost. "Now come on or I'll—"

"Well look whose starting to sound like Dad," Kristian muttered with a smirk that was classic to the St. James family.

Jesse was about to charge at him for saying such a thing when Lacey put her hand on his shoulder. Gritting his teeth, he turned on his heel and walked with her in the opposite direction towards the gardens area that was currently covered with snow in the front of the mansion. Kristian rolled his eyes at him and turned back to leave.

"He's just bitter," she explained with a shrug as they looked around for the dogs.

"Okay, I get it. I wasn't around. I had school and I just—"

"And you didn't want to come back here because of all the hard memories. I know," she muttered. "The last thing you needed was a reminder to drag you down when you had Broadway so within reach."

That sickening feeling of guilt once again rippled through Jesse at his sister's words. He tried to think up an excuse for his constant absence, but the truth was that he had none. She was right and there was no way around it.

"I…I'm…" he began, feeling even sicker now that he was trying to get an apology out.

"I know," she replied quietly. "It just would have been nice to get a call from you now and then."

"I fucked up, Lace. You're right," he admitted as they turned down the main path that led towards the front gate. "I didn't want to come back. So I know there won't be any Brother of the Year trophy to add to my vast collection of awards any time soon. But I'm here now and I want to make it up to the both of you. You're just going to have to actually talk to me and tell me what was going on while I was away because I know something's wrong that you're not telling me."

Lacey stammered as she opened her mouth to reply, but she quickly got distracted by something at the gate.

"There are people out there trying to get in," she observed.

Jesse glanced over to see who it was and told Lacey to stay back while he went to check. Reaching the gate, he looked from one man to the other with curiosity.

"Can I help you?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at the one on the left.

"I'm Detective Reynolds and this is my partner Officer Hawk and we're assigned to the case of the St. James disappearance," said the taller man with the blonde gelled back hair. "And you are?"

"Jesse. I'm their son," he replied from his side of the gate.

"Jesse, if you could just open the gate and let us in to look around the estate. We'd like to cover the perimeter before we go on searching elsewhere if that's alright with you," explained the detective.

"Yeah, sure—"

"Do you have a search warrant?" asked Lacey as she walked up behind Jesse.

Crossing her arms, she stared down at the two men with a fierce gaze.

"No, but we can certainly go get one if that's what you want," replied Officer Hawk with a cocked eyebrow.

"Lace—" Jesse began, but was cut off.

"I suggest you come back when you have one, then," she said boldly.

"Trust me. We will," muttered Detective Reynolds before they turned to head back into their cars and leave.

"What the hell was that all about?" Jesse asked, throwing his hands up in the air as he followed Lacey back towards the mansion.

"Dad always said that we never let anyone inside who isn't family or one of his co-workers," she replied as she walked ahead.

"Forget what he said. If you haven't realized, he and Mom are gone and maybe we should look around to see if there are any clues," Jesse called out as he followed.

"We're not supposed to do that, Jesse."

Jesse rushed forward and grabbed her arm so she could spin around and face him.

"Look. As long as I'm here, I'm in charge. And I say we're looking," he snapped. "And if you don't like it, then tough!"

Lacey looked Jesse up and down with a gaze of disgust as she stepped away from him.

"Kris was right. You really are starting to sound like Dad."

* * *

><p>Rachel stepped out of the Green Room to head towards the stage of the Akron theatre that the small competition was taking place. New Directions wasn't set to go yet, but she still wanted to keep an eye on the competition. On her way there, she passed a bulletin board with a full list of all the teams competing today. Running her finger down the list, she found New Directions and reached into her purse for one of her many star stickers to stick it right next to their name. Her eyes continued down the list in search of their rivals, Vocal Adrenaline, but they were nowhere to be found. Eyebrows furrowed, she looked over the list one more time for the Akron native team, but they were not there.<p>

When she made her way back to the Green Room, she sighed and sat in the chair closest to Finn.

"Well this one is going to be a cake walk. There's no serious competition. Vocal Adrenaline isn't even here," she explained to the team.

"That's odd," muttered Artie. "You'd think they'd take part in a contest in their own backyard…. Oh well. Their loss."

The rest of the team nodded in agreement.

"Their loss is right. We're next guys," said Mr. Schuester as he stepped in the room. "Now go out and win this thing!"

The team exchanged high fives and words of how they knew they were going to win this as they made their way over to the stage to perform. They performed the standard three songs with Rachel singing the solo. They were all dressed in red and white to match Umbrella's logo colors because Rachel had suggested it. As they finished up a Backstreet Boys/Spice Girls mash up, the audience broke out into a roar of applause. Because they were the last to go, it wasn't long before the judges deliberated and announced them as the obvious winner.

Back in the Green Room, the team stood drinking some of the complimentary Umbrella brand soft drinks as they discussed how they were going to celebrate their win.

"I think we should all go out for burgers or pizza or something," suggested Finn. "What do you think Rach?"

Rachel placed her hand on Finn's arm and shook her head.

"I'm a vegan, remember?"

"Oh yeah…"

She was about to tell him just how fed up she was getting about him constantly forgetting when Mr. Schuester spoke up.

"Seeing as this was Rachel's idea to enter the contest and because of her we now have Umbrella's sponsorship for a year… I think she should decide what we do," he said with his hand on her shoulder.

Rachel's mood lifted slightly when she was actually given some sort of recognition.

"Actually, Mr. Schue, there is something I want to do while we're in Akron. But it's not entirely celebratory," she said, glancing over at Finn.

"What is it?" he asked.

"I was hoping that before we all drove back to Lima, that we could stop by and visit Jesse—"

"No way," Finn said immediately.

"Finn—"

"No way are we going to see St. Jerk," he protested.

"Finn!" Rachel snapped.

"And have him tell us all how much we suck?" Finn asked, shaking his head.

"Nah, St. James would just tell you how much you suck, Finn," muttered Santana with a smirk.

"Really, Santana? Really?" snapped Finn with whatever was left of his patience gone.

"Sorry. Old habits…" she shrugged.

"Listen, guys. Hear me out!" Rachel spoke up. "You've all seen the news reports. His parents are missing and I just want to see how he's doing while we're in the area. It'll just be ten minutes. Then we can go ahead and do whatever you want to celebrate. But seeing as it's my call right now… I want to see Jesse."

Mr. Schuester exhaled a sigh and nodded.

"It's just ten minutes, guys. We'll just stop by and give him our best wishes and leave."

Rachel gave Mr. Schuester the brightest smile as she threw her arms around his middle and hugged him tightly.

"Thank you, Mr. Schue."

* * *

><p>On the way to the parking lot to get on the bus that Mr. Schuester had managed to get for them, Finn walked up next to Rachel and reached out for her hand, but she pulled away and sped up.<p>

"What was that for?" he asked as he picked up his pace to follow her.

"I didn't appreciate what you said about Jesse back there. He isn't a jerk. He's kind, and sweet, and—"

"Are we talking about the same guy? He threw eggs at you, Rachel."

"Can you stop bringing that up? I've already forgiven him for that so it's irrelevant," she replied.

"Why are you so set on going to see him, anyway?" he asked with a suspicious eyebrow raised. "Do you still like him? Is that it?"

Refusing to dignify his question with a response, Rachel rolled her eyes and stormed onto the bus with the intention of sitting next to Mercedes instead of him for the ride to Jesse's. On her way to her seat, Mr. Schuester stopped her.

"Rachel, you're going to have to tell us where to go. Seeing as you've been there before," he said as he motioned for her to sit next to him in one of the front seats.

"Well I've never actually been inside his house, but he's shown me what it looks like from outside the gate. It's just outside of town."

As the driver followed Rachel's detailed directions, she sat back in her seat and wondered what would happen when they reached Jesse's house. She had always been curious as to why he never invited her inside, but he was always hesitant about her ever meeting his parents. He told her a few details about his unhappy childhood and she didn't want to pry very much and make him uncomfortable when their relationship was just starting. But she wasn't thinking about that very much right now. She was honestly very worried about how Jesse was taking this whole thing. She hadn't heard from him since she saw him in New York and he had been rarely on her mind since then.

Well, that wasn't true. There were a few times when Jesse St. James floated through her mind over the summer and first half of the school year. In July when she invited Finn over to watch Funny Girl with her and he fell asleep, she found herself thinking back to the time that Jesse watched it with her and paid attention to every detail. He didn't even try and make out with her like they usually ended up doing during movies and she appreciated that. When the school year started and she was crying her eyes out over how she thought her dreams were probably not going to come true after the NYADA mixer, she would have given anything to hear Jesse telling her that fame was an inevitability like he used to. Then when she was cast in West Side Story, she felt the strong urge to talk to him about how excited she was over it because she knew he'd understand. Jesse had even managed to slip into her mind on the night she lost her virginity. When it was all said and done, she laid there wondering if sex was really supposed to be that unsatisfying. It hadn't lasted very long and she never achieved any sort of climax like she read she would online beforehand. She then couldn't help but wonder if it would have been the same with Jesse. So maybe she was thinking about Jesse more than she should.

Ever since the news announcements about his parents, Rachel had thought about him even more. She had been tempted to call him, but always found herself holding herself back for some reason. It made her nervous and she felt like she was a girl freaking out over calling the boy she secretly liked.

The thought made Finn's question outside the bus echo in her mind. Was she having feelings for Jesse again? Turning in her seat, she looked back at Finn who was laughing and telling a story to Quinn without a care in the world. The sight made Rachel immediately frown because she figured he'd at least be upset after the way she had pulled away from him earlier. She huffed and turned to face the front. Now that she thought about it, she had been having more frustrated thoughts about Finn more and more these days. Try as hard as she could, she could never get him to fit into the role of the perfect boyfriend like she wanted. Sometimes it was easier to put on the rose tinted sun glasses and just accept everything that Finn was.

As she sat there waiting for the bust to reach the destination, she pondered over whether or not the easier route was right. If it was so right, then why did she feel so empty inside late at night? Why did she feel so empty right now?

There wasn't very much time to continue thinking about this because the bus had stopped right in front of the front gate of the St. James estate. The second the wheels came to a halt, Rachel stood up and sprinted off the boss and over to the gate. Noticing the surveillance camera, she fixed her hair and wondered if there was anyone watching the camera feed right now. Wrapping her arms around herself to retain some sort of warmth, she looked around for any sort of button to press to let someone inside know that she was there. She jumped when she heard a dog howl off in the distance from somewhere within the property. Reaching for the buzzer on the box with the numeric keypad, she quickly pressed it and waited for someone to answer.

* * *

><p>"Why the hell did Dad have to go and fire the wait staff before he decided to disappear?" asked Kristian as he raided the refrigerator in the downstairs kitchen.<p>

"Really sensitive, Kris," Jesse muttered as he nudged his brother aside to grab a Red Bull.

"Don't talk to me about sensitivity…" he muttered back after grabbing the milk carton to drink right out of it.

"Yeah, I get it. You hate me," Jesse said as he made his way out of the room.

Hearing a buzzing from the intercom in the surveillance room across the hall, Jesse pushed the door open and was quickly cut off by Kristian rushing into the room to beat him to it.

"There's a girl out there," he observed as he looked at the screen.

Before Jesse could peer over his shoulder to take a look, Kristian pressed the intercom button and began talking.

"Unless you're selling Girl Scout Cookies, we're not interested in what you're pitching, kid," he called out.

"Excuse me?" he could hear a voice reply back.

In just those two words alone, Jesse could automatically register whose voice it belonged to. His eyes widened as he lunged forward to get a view of her on the surveillance screen.

"Is Jesse there? I'm here to see him," she spoke into the intercom.

Jesse shoved Kristian aside before he could say anything and hit the gate button to unlock it.

"So I take it there won't be any Girl Scout Cookies, huh?" Kristian asked as he watched Jesse bolt from the room.

* * *

><p>As the gates swung open to let her in, Rachel stepped forward, but was quickly grabbed by Finn from behind her.<p>

"I thought you didn't want to see Jesse," she said with a roll of her eyes.

"And let you two be alone together? No way."

"We're all going," said Mr. Schuester as he stepped off the bus and ushered everyone else to follow. "After Jesse tried to help us with Nationals last year, it's the least we could do."

Rachel nodded and turned back to lead the way up the winding path towards the house in the dark. She had to be careful not to slip on the ice on the pavement (Blaine managed to slip and fall once, bringing Kurt down with him, much to his dismay).

"Hey is that a dog over there?" Puck observed, pointing towards the shadows by the trees.

He was about to go walk over to pet it when it began growling at him menacingly.

"Don't go near it, Puck," Mr. Schuester instructed.

The dog walked up to Puck and Mr. Schuester slowly and began whining for someone to pet it. Giving in to its pleading sounds, Mr. Schuester bent down to pat its head, but it quickly snapped its head up and sank its teeth into his hand.

"Shit, Mr. Schue, are you okay?" Puck asked as he watched his teacher pull away his bleeding hand.

"Let's just get inside and maybe Jesse has a first aid kit in there," he replied, wincing slightly as he stretched his hand out.

Rachel continued to walk briskly up the steps to the mansion and ignored the growls of the dogs nearby. She raised her fist to knock on the door when it opened before she got the chance. The bright light from the living room made the figure of the person opening the door look dark, but Rachel didn't need a closer look to know that it was Jesse.

Smiling up at the boy, she was about to say something when he cut her off.

"Come in. All of you," he said as he ushered them all into the entrance hall.

As they all filtered in, Jesse and Finn's eyes connected in a brief glare for a moment before Jesse returned his attention to Rachel.

"What are you doing here?" he asked curiously.

Before answering, she reached her arms around his broad shoulders and hugged him gently. Jesse hugged her a little too tightly, but it didn't hurt Rachel at all. She actually liked it.

"I heard about your parents and I wanted to stop by to see if you were okay," she explained.

"I'm fine," he insisted.

"Did you hear that? He's fine. We can go now," Finn said quickly as he pointed to the door.

Rachel glared at Finn for a second before turning her attention back to Jesse. Jesse caught the glare and raised an amused eyebrow at Finn before turning his attention back to the brunette.

"Still, ever since I heard the reports, you were all I could think about," she confessed. "I'm really sorry this happened to your family."

She pulled him into another loving hug and lingered in his arms for a little longer than she should have. Jesse didn't protest this at all because he had gone so long missing being able to hold her so close and he was going to enjoy it while it lasted. When she pulled away, they both looked into each other's eyes and smiled slightly.

"Well, thank you," he murmured gratefully before turning back to the rest of the group. "But you all came to Akron for this?"

Jesse tore his eyes from Rachel for a brief moment to look at the rest of the team. Judging by how made up the girls were and how their hair was all similarly done, he could tell exactly where they came from.

"You were all competing at the Umbrella Show Choir Contest, weren't you?" he asked, looking back down at Rachel.

"And we won," said Artie smugly.

"Not that there was very much competition," Rachel explained. "Vocal Adrenaline never showed up so it was a cake walk."

Jesse glanced back at Rachel and nodded.

"Vocal Adrenaline couldn't qualify for that," he explained.

"How the hell could they not?" asked Puck. "What, did they win too many awards?"

Shaking his head, Jesse chuckled and led them all into the living room so they could sit down.

"They couldn't qualify because their coach is related to two people who work for Umbrella. It wouldn't be fair to the rest of the contestants if someone had an in with the company," he shrugged.

"And how do you know this?" asked Quinn from where she stood next to Finn.

"Easy," Jesse muttered nonchalantly. "I'm the coach and my parents work for Umbrella."


	3. Dog Food

Rachel's mouth fell open in shock at the revelation.

"You're actually their coach?" she asked in disbelief.

"Well they wanted a winner and I know how to win," he shrugged. "At least when it comes to competitions…"

His eyes cast downward at his own bitter words.

Rachel caught the pain in his voice at his last statement and she felt the slight anger that was rising over finding out that he was coaching for the rival team start to diminish. Besides, she wasn't here to get angry at him when his parents were both missing. Nodding silently, she sat down next to him at the edge of the couch and placed her hand on his arm.

"Jesse…" Rachel began before Finn cut in.

"Well sorry to disappoint you, Jesse, but New Directions is doing better than we've ever done before now and there's no chance we're not winning Nationals this year. So it looks like you're just going to have to settle for _another_ loss," Finn shrugged, clearly trying to remind him how he had lost Rachel.

Finn's words didn't really seem to bother Jesse all that much. He merely rolled his eyes and looked ahead at the fireplace in front of him. That didn't mean it didn't make Rachel livid, however.

"Was that really necessary?" she asked, shooting him a fiery glare.

"Oh great…" Mercedes muttered under her breath. "The happy couple is fighting again…"

"Just get a divorce already," Artie added as he wheeled himself over near the fireplace to watch the flames.

"Seriously," muttered Quinn as she crossed the room and sat in the loveseat next to Tina.

"You know, that's starting to sound like a pretty good idea," Rachel muttered.

"We're not even—" Finn began.

"You know what I mean," she cut in.

"Okay guys, we didn't come here to fight and… we shouldn't…." Mr. Schuester began, but seemed to have a hard time getting words out because of the pain in his hand.

"Mr. Schue, are you okay?" asked Puck as he glanced his teacher up and down.

Just as he was about to answer, the door to the living room opened and Lacey stood there with wide eyes as she looked around at just how many people were in their house now.

"Jesse…" she began, placing her hands at her hips angrily.

"Calm down… these are my…" Jesse replied, looking around at New Directions awkwardly because he couldn't exactly call them his friends. "…I know them."

"Still, we're not supposed to—"

"Do you really think I care?" he replied, losing his patience.

He hated being told what to do and he wasn't just going to leave Rachel out there on the road, no matter what his father's rules were.

"We're obviously not wanted here so let's just leave," Finn said as he walked towards the door.

Rachel looked up at Jesse and shook her head, silently letting him know that she didn't want to leave. Sighing, she looked around at the rest of the people with her and knew that they couldn't stay.

"I came at a bad time," she whispered.

"Stay," he whispered back, placing his hand over hers. "I'll drive you back in the morning. We can talk…"

Biting her lip, she nodded without a second thought before looking back at her team.

"Okay, you guys get back to Lima. Mr. Schuester doesn't look so good and I don't want you all staying here because I insisted. So I'll just stay here with Jesse and—"

"Like hell you will," Finn cut in.

"I don't think she was asking for your permission," said Jesse, giving Finn a hard stare.

"She's not your girl to be having sleepovers with!" he shouted back.

"Well maybe I shouldn't be your girl anymore!" Rachel snapped.

"ENOUGH!" shouted Sam. "Look. Mr. Schue is hurt. We need to quit fighting and get him taken care of."

"I'm fine, really," insisted Mr. Schuester.

"Jesse, do you have a first aid kit around here?" asked Sam.

Lacey stepped forward and nodded.

"I'll go get one and then you all have to leave," she said firmly before turning towards the door.

"I'm going with you. The last place I want to be right now is around a backstabber," he muttered under his breath as he followed Lacey.

His words filled Rachel with such a rage that she quickly stood to her feet and charged after him into the entrance hall. Grabbing his arm, she pulled him so he'd stop and turn to face her.

"Backstabber?" she asked with her hands on her hips. "I wanted to see if Jesse was alright and you're being an immature baby by acting this way. I'd like to actually have time to talk to him and be there for him and you obviously don't trust me enough if you think you have to try and forbid me from doing it!"

Finn scoffed and looked away.

Behind him, Lacey sighed and leaned against the railing for the grand staircase impatiently.

"It's him I don't trust, Rachel."

It was now Rachel's turn to scoff at his statement.

"When has Jesse ever tried to take me from you? He's never given you a reason to be nervous. He's been completely respectful because he's a good guy, Finn."

"Why are you being so defensive of Jesse? Admit it. You still like him—"

"Are we going to find that first aid kit or are you going to just let your teacher bleed?" asked Lacey impatiently.

The door to the living room opened and Jesse stepped out into the entrance hall behind Rachel.

"Go with Lacey and find the kit, or get out of my house," he said quietly. "I don't care if you're her boyfriend or not. I won't have you talking to Rachel like that."

"Don't worry about it, Jesse," Rachel muttered as she turned away to walk back to the living room. "He's not my boyfriend anymore."

Finn stood there looking completely dumbfounded at the fact that Rachel Berry, the girl who had pinned after him for so long, has actually dumped him. Publicly.

"Fine. I'm done with you!" he shouted after her.

Gritting his teeth together, he clenched his fists and turned back to Lacey to they could finally go off and find the first aid kit to help Mr. Schuester.

Jesse looked from Finn to Rachel in slight shock. He never expected this to happen and wasn't sure how to handle it initially. As he watched Finn and Lacey leave towards the kitchens, he turned back to Rachel and put his hand on her shoulder.

"Are you okay?" he asked quietly.

Rachel shrugged silently and ran her hand through her hair. Chuckling softly, she crossed her arms in front of her chest and looked up at him with a weak smile.

"I came here to find out if _you_ were okay," she said, poking his chest softly.

"I was alright. But I'm even better now," he murmured with a slight smile.

He was about to go in for a hug when the door to the living room burst open and Puck came out, looking to see who was around. When he spotted Rachel and Jesse, he sighed and approached them.

"Schue isn't looking so good. I don't think a dog bite should make him that bad," he said nervously.

"How bad could he be?" Rachel asked, turning to go check him out but Puck grabbed her.

"He's getting all pale and sick looking. You sure those dogs of yours don't have rabies or something, St. James?" he asked Jesse with a raised eyebrow.

"Of course not," he immediately replied.

As he thought about it, though, he remembered the strange behavior they had earlier when they all busted out of their cages. That _was_ a little off.

"I don't think a first aid kit is going to do him any good. We gotta get him to a doctor," said Puck.

The three of them rushed back into the living room to check on him and he was just as bad as Puck said he was. Rachel walked up beside him and knelt down next to the chair he sat in.

The color from his face had started to drain and he looked incredibly clammy. Quinn came up from the other side to touch his forehead and shook her head.

"He's burning up."

"Mr. Schue?" Rachel asked, reaching out to touch his arm. "We're going to get you to a doctor, okay?"

"Yeah… I think that's what's best," he replied with a small nod.

Jesse walked past both of them and into the next room. After a few minutes, he came back with a damp wash cloth and handed it to him so he could apply it to the bite.

"We should get going. I'm going to call the bus driver and let him know we'll be out in a few once Finn gets back," he said as he slowly pushed himself up from the chair.

Jesse kept his eyes on Rachel as she nodded and stood up. Instead of heading for the door like everyone else did, Rachel walked back to Jesse and leaned against the wall next to him.

"You're going to go with them?" he asked silently.

Biting her lip, she shook her head.

"Why?" he whispered.

"Well, we never got to really talk… and I really don't want to spend the bus ride back dealing with Finn," she explained.

"I really want you to stay. I just don't get why you want to," he muttered.

"I just do," she whispered back before heading out the door with the rest of the team to see them off.

Jesse raised his eyebrow and followed after her back towards the entrance hall and followed her out the mansion.

"We'll just wait in the bus for Finn," said Mr. Schuester as they walked down the winding path.

When the gate to the front of the estate was in sight, they could spot the lights from the bus shining eerily on the snow that was starting to fall lightly. Jesse jogged ahead towards the gate to hit the code on the keypad to unlock it. As it swung open and they filtered out, the sound of dogs barking echoed through the grounds.

"Hurry up and get on the bus," Mr. Schuester ordered them anxiously, not wanting anyone else to get bitten.

As the barking grew louder, Jesse whipped his head around and saw a group of five dogs running madly towards them.

"Rachel, get on the bus," he said quickly.

"What?"

Before he could explain, one of the dogs ran past the gate and jumped up towards Puck who quickly dodged to attack.

"What the fuck?" he shouted. "St. James! Call these dogs off!"

Jesse quickly stepped forward and tried to grab the dog to contain it, but it snapped at Jesse the second he tried. He quickly pulled away and grabbed Rachel to push her towards the bus as more of the dogs ran past the gate. One of them ran around the bus and jumped up against the window next to the driver, causing it to crack.

"No way, man!" they could hear the driver shout before he quickly started the bus and sped off away from them, leaving them stranded.

"Wait!" Tina shouted after him, trying to run after it but Mike grabbed her.

"Okay, back inside. Everyone!" Jesse shouted, grabbing Rachel's hand and pulling her inside the gates and up the path.

"Jesse, wait!" she shouted, trying to pull away so she could turn back and make sure that the rest of her team made it inside safely.

"Rachel, move!" he shouted back, tugging her away from a dog that was just about to lunge at her nearby.

She was far too shocked to even scream at the close call that could have been so much worse had Jesse not pulled her away. Holding his hand as tight as she could, she ran with him and tried not to slip on the icy path. She could hear her teammates running behind her, some of them occasionally shouting one of their names. When she heard Tina shout Artie's name, Rachel whipped her head around to see what had happened. In the blur of how fast she was running in addition to all the snow falling that was clouding her vision, all she could see was his wheelchair turned over along with a group of dogs huddling around it.

"We need to go back," Rachel shouted, tugging Jesse's hand with all her might so he'd stop pulling her inside.

"I'm sorry, Rach. Not happening," he replied quickly as they spun around a corner on the path.

Rachel managed to tug her hand free from Jesse's grasp before running back towards her friends to help them.

"RACHEL!" he shouted, turning to run back after her.

Spotting Quinn on the pavement of the path, Rachel quickly ran to her and tried to help her up. Her hands were scratched from her sudden fall a moment ago and she was having trouble getting back up because of the ice.

"Come on. We need to get everyone back inside," Rachel told her quickly.

Jesse managed to catch up to her by now, but Rachel moved away from him so she could head towards Artie who was shouting in pain from the attack. Just before she could reach him, Puck stepped in front of her and pushed her back towards Jesse behind her.

"Get her inside," he quickly told Jesse. "Get them all inside!"

"You don't think I'm trying to do that?" Jesse snapped as he grabbed Rachel's hand again.

All of their heads turned suddenly as Artie screamed louder. The sight before them was something that shouldn't even exist in nightmares. Four dogs were crowded around their friend as though he was a steak thrown to them for dinner. One of them bit down on his leg and actually managed to tear flesh while the rest were biting at his arms and chest.

"Help! ….Please!" Artie tried to shout, but by now his voice was weak and pained.

"God dammit…" Puck muttered angrily, grabbing a thick branch from a nearby tree and trying his hardest to break it off.

When it finally snapped, he charged towards the dogs and managed to hit one off of Artie.

"NOAH!" Rachel shouted at the sight of the animal cruelty.

"Not now, Rachel! These sons of bitches are sick!" he shouted as he took a swing at another one that was going for Artie's neck.

Puck was about to take another swing when he caught the sight of Artie's limp body practically torn to shreds. All of them stared dumbfounded with wide eyes at the sight of death before them. It was one thing to actually witness someone die, but to have it be a friend brutally killed? That only made it so much more worse.

Filled with Rage, Puck started lunging for the rest of the dogs, but Sam grabbed him and tugged him away.

"He's gone. We need to get inside before they get anyone else," he said quickly as he pulled him away.

Now that Artie was dead, the rest of the dogs were in need of some fresher meat. So they turned back on the group to resume their chase. Not wanting Rachel to be the next one on their menu, Jesse pulled her back towards the house as fast as he could. Luckily, this time Rachel didn't put up a fight.

Pulling the door open, he pushed her inside and stood back so that the rest of them could filter in after her. All of them managed to make it inside, even Mr. Schuester who was being supported by Mike and Sam now that he seemed to have grown even weaker. Once the last of them made it inside, he moved to enter, but a dog had caught the edge of his jeans near his foot with its teeth. It tugged hard to try and get him back out there, but he wasn't going to let them win. Tugging his foot away, he quickly ran inside and slammed the door shut before quickly fastening each lock.

The sounds of the dogs barking and howling could be heard from the entrance hall as well as the banging on the doors as they leaped against it to try and force it open. The doors rattled every time they tried, but they were sturdy enough to keep them safe.

Turning back towards the rest of the group, Jesse saw the looks of complete shock etched into their faces. Quinn sat on the steps with her head in her hands and Santana was trying to console a distraught Brittany. He completely bypassed everyone as he looked around for Rachel. When he spotted her sitting in a corner with her arms wrapped around her knees, he moved towards her and knelt down beside her.

He didn't initially know what to say. He was just relieved that Rachel would be able to live to see another day after that freak attack outside. The look of utter shock on her face unnerved him a little because she just stared past him in a daze that wasn't typically Rachel.

When she felt him reach out to touch her leg, she finally realized that Jesse was beside her. The sight of him there made her finally crack. Lower lip trembling, she opened her mouth to say something, but only a whimper managed to escape. Seeing her eyes well up with tears made his heart hurt and he wanted nothing more than to make all the pain go away. He hated seeing her looking this fragile and terrified.

Unable to take it any longer, Rachel threw her arms around him and began sobbing into his chest as she held onto him as tightly as she could. Jesse immediately wrapped his arms around her and pulled her onto his lap so he could hold her close.

"He's gone," she cried.

The sight of Rachel crying made Tina lose it and she quickly unraveled against Mike's shoulder. Even Sam couldn't hold back a few tears that escaped. Kurt caught sight of this and pulled him into a hug. The sudden death of such a close friend was affecting them all like it usually would and many of them had no idea how to handle it. Things like this shouldn't happen. Not only should good people like Artie not have to die, but the way he died made it even worse. There was simply no way that he could get away in time because of the wheel chair. There was nothing they could have done.

While most of them were mourning their loss, Puck stared daggers at Jesse. Catching his stare, Jesse looked over at him with a cocked eyebrow as he continued to rub Rachel's back soothingly.

"This is all your damn fault, you know," Puck finally said, clenching his fists.

"Yeah, how?" Jesse asked quickly.

"They were _your_ dogs and _your_ responsibility and now Artie is—"

"Please don't say it," Brittany whimpered, looking over at him with her tear stained face.

"He's dead!" Puck shouted.

Santana swore under her breath and pulled Brittany close to her as sob ripped through her at his words.

"Guys…" Mr. Schuester managed to say from where he sat in one of the chairs. "Artie…. He…"

Shaking his head, Mr. Schuester looked down and sighed.

"It was an accident. Let's just call the police and have them take care of it. When we get back to Lima, I'll explain to his parents what happened…"

"You wouldn't have to explain anything had we not come here in the first place. Thanks, Rachel," Quinn muttered with a glare at the brunette.

Rachel poked her head up from where it was buried against Jesse's chest. She opened her mouth to defend herself, but couldn't even manage that. She only began trembling some more before collapsing back into Jesse's embrace as a new wave of tears overcame her.

"It's my fault," she whimpered.

"Damn right its your fault," Quinn replied.

"Shut up!" Jesse snapped at her.

"Excuse me?" Quinn replied quickly, standing to her feet.

"Do you want to hit St. James or do you want me to do it because I'd love to," Puck said as he stepped up next to Quinn.

"Guys, stop!" Mr. Schuester cut in, but Puck had lunged forwards towards Jesse and grabbed him away from Rachel.

Gripping Jesse's sweater with both of his fists, he pulled him up to his feet and slammed his back hard against the wall. Rachel quickly jumped up and tried tugging Puck's arm away so he could let him go.

"Noah! Leave him alone!" she cried.

"Let go of me," Jesse growled.

Just as Puck was about to pull back his fist and start a fight, the sound of a piercing scream could be heard from a few rooms over. A short moment after, the sound of glass shattering echoed out.

Both Jesse and Puck forgot about the fight that was about to go down and their heads quickly turned towards the door to the dining room where the sound could be heard from.

"Lacey…" Jesse whispered before quickly shoving Puck off of him so he could find her.

Panic filled him as he threw the door to the dining room open and searched the area for any sign of his sister. He ran down past the long antique dining table towards the other side of the room, but there was no sign of her. The longer he went without finding her, the faster his heart began to pound in terror.

At the end of the room was a door that led down towards the kitchens and the bedrooms of the cooking staff that his father usually had living there with them. The door was cracked open slightly.

Grabbing the doorknob, Jesse pulled it open and found a broken vase before him at his feet.

"Lacey?" he called out, looking around the dark corridor for her.

Running his hand through his hair nervously, he knelt down next to the broken glass and noticed some blood on a few of the shards. The sight of it made the terror increase tenfold. Something was definitely not right.

First, crazy flesh eating dogs and now this? He thought that the mansion would be the safe place to stay with the danger outside, but obviously he was wrong. If something happened to Lacey, he didn't know what he'd do. Now that he thought of it, he didn't have a clue where Kristian was. All he did know was that he had to find his family and he had to find them fast.

He was so deep in his thoughts that when he felt a hand on his shoulder, he jumped and quickly spun around to see who it was.

"Shit, Rachel…" he muttered, sighing in relief.

"I'm sorry I scared you," she muttered, wiping her eyes with her coat sleeve. "Did you find your sister?"

He shook his head and continued down the hall before stopping. Part of him wanted to tell her to go back towards the entrance hall where she'd have safety in numbers. But the other part of him didn't want to let her out of his sight for a second.

"Help me look?" he asked, deciding that he'd rather keep an eye on her himself.

She nodded and followed him down the corridor. Looking down at the broken glass, she furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.

"You don't think something could have happened to them, right?" she asked, her voice full of concern.

She may not want Finn in her life anymore, but that didn't mean that she'd want him to be harmed.

"I hope not," Jesse muttered, stopping to look down at something on the floor before him.

"What is it?" she asked, peering her head around him to get a look.

"It's a first aid kit," he replied, bending down to pick it up.

They both shared a worried look, silently agreeing that something was terribly wrong. From the look of it, Lacey and Finn must have run off and used that vase to protect themselves from something.

The question was, who or what on earth could it be and how did it manage to get in the house?


	4. Parting Ways

Rachel glanced around the dark hallway nervously, as though expecting something to pop out. After the situation with the mad dogs outside, she was a little on edge about everything. These clues around the hallway left by whatever happened with Lacey and Finn were simply not adding up to anything good. Not in the slightest. Something had either gotten them or had made them run off somewhere else. She really hoped it was the latter. They didn't hear any barking from where they were, so it couldn't be one of those dogs. How could one have gotten in the house anyway with the front door locked? She figured that it just had to be something else. Still, Finn was a strong guy and she couldn't imagine him just running away. Was it really that bad?

"Jesse," Rachel murmured, placing her hand over his arm. "I think we should go back and call the police. Something isn't right and it's far too much for us to handle. Maybe if we—"

"It won't work," Jesse muttered, shaking his head. "There's hardly ever any cell phone reception here and the phone lines here have been dead for the past few days. We've been waiting on the people from the phone company to come, but I'm beginning to think that Lacey didn't really go down to the let the phone company know they had to come fix it like she said she did so that she could keep as many people away from here as possible…"

Rachel pulled out her phone to test what Jesse was saying and he was right. No bars. No reception. Sighing in frustration, she put it back in here pocket and grabbed the first aid kit.

"We should get this to Mr. Schuester, then. Then after we…." She started, but trailed off as she thought about what Jesse had said before about Lacey and the phone company. "Jesse, do you think Lacey might have known about something going on around here?"

Jesse eyed Rachel in slight confusion.

"What do you mean?"

"Well… just earlier, she was freaking out over the fact that you let us in the house. Has she ever been like that with people coming in here? I mean, if you say that you thought she might have stalled calling the phone company to keep people away, then it just makes sense…"

Jesse slowly nodded in understanding. Now that he thought about it, she was acting rather strange when he tried letting the detective inside the estate. The time that she saw him and Kristian in front of their parent's bedroom had made her anxious, as well. Of all the St. James children, she was the one who was so worried about breaking those rules for some reason.

"You're right. But what do you think it all means? What could she know?" he asked, glancing around at the hallway and wondering what kind of secrets about this place that his sister might know.

"Well, this is a big place. Maybe there's something here," she muttered with a small shrug. "Something unsafe…Something harmful…"

The thought of there being something strange in the house he grown up in sent a small chill down Jesse's spine. This had never felt like much of a home to him, but it was still where he and his siblings grew up and shared memories. What could be so bad within the walls that Lacey knew about? Did it have anything to do with those vicious dogs outside? Was there really a chance that there could be something dangerous in here?

He thought back to the many times that his father and mother scolded him for being in parts of the house where he wasn't supposed to. There were rooms locked with special keys that his father kept hidden in places he could never find. As a kid, he'd get yelled at for touching some things as though he were committing the most heinous act. He could think of many occasions where his father never let him hear the end of it when he was about to touch one of his priceless statues in the strange suit of armor room. He's say things like, "If want to stay alive, you won't touch that!" Back then, he just thought his father was being his typical douche bag self. But now, he was beginning to question if there really was something more within this mysterious place.

"I think you might be on to something," he muttered with a nod. "Let's go back and quickly tell the others about this and then we have to get back to searching. I need to find my sister and I know that even if you're fed up with Hudson, you'd want to see him alright, too… That's if his disappearance hasn't sparked any leftover feelings for him in you…"

Rachel noticed the slight edge of pain in his voice when he mentioned how she could have possibly changed her mind. Shaking her head, she straightened her headband and turned to head back to the dining hall.

"I do want him to be alright, but it doesn't change the fact that it wasn't working between us," she explained as they walked.

Had he not been worried sick about his younger sister being missing, Jesse might have just smiled at her words. The only thing he could manage, though, was a faint nod. He followed Rachel back down the hall, but quickly grabbed her arm when he heard the sound of pots and pans crashing from the kitchens in the basement.

Rachel quickly whipped her head around and crashed into Jesse's strong chest, finding herself clinging to his sweater for a few moments before the initial fear wore off.

"Maybe it's them," she whispered, pointing to the staircase going down to the kitchens where the noise was coming from.

Jesse grabbed her hand which was currently now relaxed against his chest and turned to head down the stairs.

"Stay behind me," he instructed her, gently squeezing her palm within his. "And don't say a word."

He reached out to flip the light switch to the stairwell on, but decided against it. If the thing that was after Finn and Lacey was down there, he didn't want to give it a heads up that they were coming. He narrowed his eyes so he could see better in the dark, but it wasn't very much help. Turning the corner halfway down the stairs, he saw the light of the kitchen on at the bottom of the steps. He ran his thumb along Rachel's hand in an effort to keep her calm, but in reality it was calming him as well.

With his back pressed against the wall, he peered his head over the edge of the open doorway to get a glimpse of who or what was inside. From where he stood, he could see no one standing anywhere nearby. Still, the sound of the pots and pans crashing in the distance was still going on so there had to be something on the other side of the room that he couldn't see.

A single metal bowl crashed to the floor and came rolling out into his view. Suddenly, what they were doing didn't seem too smart. It wasn't like he was armed in any way and he had Rachel to protect.

"Stay here," he whispered, turning to look back at Rachel with a serious look.

She shook her head vigorously and squeezed his hand.

"Don't leave me here," she whispered back.

Sighing in resignation, he turned back towards the doorway and took a few tentative steps forward into old kitchen. With Rachel's hand still in his, he stepped past the large wooden prep table and peered around the corner to where the kitchenware closet was. When he saw the figure of one of the old cooks with his back to him, he sighed in relief.

"I thought my dad fired you all," Jesse muttered, bending down to pick up a frying pan that she had previously knocked over.

At the sound of Jesse's voice, the old woman in the cooking staff uniform began to slowly turn her head around to face him. From the look of her profile alone, there was something very off about her. Her face was a sickly off color that would probably have been enough to make Jesse take a step back. Add the fact that there were deep lesions and bite marks along the woman's cheek as well as the putrid smell of rotting flesh that was quickly making them both nearly gag.

"Excuse me…" Jesse said slowly, taking a few steps back with Rachel still behind him. Even from behind, she seemed familiar to him. "Sarah?"

Beyond the smell and the horrifying condition of her skin, Jesse could still recognize this woman as the old cook who used to offer to bake cookies with him when he was only a small boy. She did it whenever his parents went away for extended periods of time so that she could help him get his mind off of things. But this wasn't the Sarah he remembered. There was something terribly wrong.

Sarah never responded to Jesse. Not with words, at least. Turning to face him completely, she parted her blood stained lips and grinded her teeth together for a moment as one of her lesion covered hands slowly reached out for him.

"Listen, I just want to know if you've seen Lacey around," Jesse muttered, taking another step back.

"Jesse…" Rachel whispered, grabbing onto his arm nervously.

Sarah let out a low, guttural moan as she continued to step forward. She swayed slightly as she walked and it made her seem almost as though she were heavily intoxicated.

"Jesse, she's sick. We need to go," Rachel said quickly, grabbing his arm and tugging it.

Sarah lunged forward and latched both of her hands on Jesse's shoulders and began snapping her jaws at him like one of those dogs out in the mansion grounds. The way she continued to try and get a taste of his flesh no matter how hard Jesse fought her off to pull away only revealed just how driven she was for it. It was as though this hunger was the only thing she could process. The blood on her lips told him that she had previously been successful with some poor victim and he wasn't intending on letting him or Rachel be next. It was unclear what exactly was wrong with the old cook, but Jesse wasn't intending on staying to find out.

"Be careful…" Rachel whimpered with fearful wide eyes. She was torn because she didn't believe in violence, but the woman was clearly crazed.

Grabbing her eerily cold arms, Jesse shoved her off and turned to head out of the kitchen with Rachel, but Sarah quickly came back for him and lunged once more. Fed up by her insistent hunger for his flesh, Jesse grabbed the nearest frying pan and brought it down hard on the hand that was gripping onto his shoulder.

What happened next had Rachel screaming out in absolute horror.

"THAT'S NOT NORMAL!" she shrieked.

Jesse had only hit her to knock her arm off of him. He hadn't expected it to actually cause part of her arm to actually detach from her body. With the hand still gripping at his shirt, he looked down at it and swore out loud before grabbing it and throwing it across the room. To make matters worse, Sarah didn't seem to even be a bit phased by the sudden loss of limb. There was no trace of pain on her face or in those dead eyes of hers as she seemed to ignore it and continue to attack.

This was clearly not normal behavior. Jesse hadn't spent too much time paying attention in science class (on the days that he actually bothered to attend, anyway), but he knew that a normal person wouldn't act this way, especially after losing a limb. The only time where he had ever seen anything like this was in horror movies. It was almost as though she was…

No, it couldn't be.

Still, with her lunging at him with her blood stained lips and her teeth gnashing together in an attempt to tear at his body, it was starting to seem more likely. There had already been a few horrific events to happen tonight, so were zombies really so far-fetched? Using the word in his mind alone made him feel mental. But there was really no time to think.

He wasn't sure how capable of murder he was right now. (But really, could this be defined as murder if his suspicions were right? That didn't make it feel any less wrong.) However, with Rachel in the room, he'd do anything to keep Sarah's hungry mouth away from her. Just as he was thinking this, Sarah lunged for Rachel and it was the last straw. Clutching the frying pan tightly, he swung it as hard as he could at her head, causing her to lose her balance and fall over to the floor. She wasn't on the ground for a second before she was reaching for Rachel's foot.

Rachel quickly recoiled and grabbed a rolling pin nearby before blindly throwing it down at the sick woman on the floor in an attempt to help Jesse fight her off. It still had no effect.

When Sarah grabbed onto Jesse's foot and tried biting at his designer boot, Rachel threw another pan, but it missed.

"KICK HER! KICK HER! KICK HER!" Rachel shouted, flailing her arms fearfully.

Jesse had hesitated because he still saw her as the kind old woman from his childhood, but he knew now that those days were over and he had to do what he had to do. Gritting his teeth, he kicked her hard in the head and actually heard her neck snap. It was only then that Sarah finally stopped putting up a fight and seemed to actually die.

"Shit," he whispered, staring down at the lifeless body of his family's old cook as he realized what he had actually just done.

Rachel swallowed hard and grabbed his arm so he could step away from her.

"Are you okay?" she asked, reaching her hand up to touch his face covered in cold sweat.

He opened his mouth to reply, but nothing came out. Turning back to the dead body on the floor, he simply stared with wide eyes.

"I killed her," he whispered. "I killed an old woman."

Rachel sensed the guilt that was quickly filling Jesse and quickly placed both hands to the sides of his face so he'd look down at her.

"Jesse, look at me," she spoke slowly, looking up at him with concerned eyes. "She was attacking you. It was self defense. There was nothing you could have—"

"Nothing I could have done, Rachel? Really? What if she was just sick and needed a doctor? What if they could have made her better? She didn't have to die…"

Rachel shook her head and rubbed small circles into his cheeks with her thumbs.

"I know it seems that way, but what if she hurt you? What if she hurt either of us?" she asked quietly. "What if she made us sick like her? Like those dogs?"

He tried to look back at the dead body, but Rachel's hands on his face prevented it. Looking down into her eyes, he nodded silently.

"I'm glad she didn't get you," he murmured, placing his hands at her sides.

"I'm glad she didn't get you…" she whispered back.

She moved her hands down to his shoulders and pulled him down into a tight hug. His own hands circled around her waist and held her as close as he possibly could.

"Truthfully, though," Jesse began, pulling away slightly so he could look back down at her. "I'd do it again a hundred times if it was to keep you safe."

"I'd do it too, Jesse," she whispered. "For you."

It was so strange to be having this kind of conversation with her right now, but with the state of things now, it seemed right. Who knew just how worse things could get over the next few hours? First, flesh eating dogs and now sickly cannibalistic people? _Zombies?_

He just had to keep Rachel safe at all costs. It was just as important as finding Lacey right now. Reaching his hands up to her cheeks, he leaned down and pressed his lips to her forehead, letting them linger there for a long moment.

She closed her eyes and smiled faintly as he did. Reaching her hand up to gently stroke his cheek one more time, she laced her fingers to her other hand with his and began leading him back towards the staircase.

Before either of them left, Jesse quickly grabbed a butcher knife on the counter…

… Just to be sure.

As they head up the stairs, Rachel kept her ears alert for any sound in the hallway above. If there was one of these things in this house, then there was a chance that there could be more.

"Do you think getting bitten could turn you into one of… them?" she whispered, looking back at him nervously. "I mean, these things seem awfully hungry all the time and they once were regular people and animals before they became what they did…"

She had thought about the possibility of this before when she was trying to console Jesse, but now she couldn't stop thinking about it.

"It's possible…" he muttered, peering left and right to check to see if the coast was clear when they reached the top of the steps. "Only way to tell, though, is to see what happens when someone does get bitten."

They both walked a few more steps in silence before it dawned on both of them. Freezing in their tracks, their wide eyes met each other's and they both knew that they were thinking the same thing.

"Mr. Schuester!" they both exclaimed before bursting towards back through the dining room and towards the entrance hall where the rest of the group was.

* * *

><p>The moment Rachel and Jesse burst through the door of the entrance hall, all eyes quickly darted to them. Many of their eyes quickly noticed the butcher knife in Jesse's hand and it made them visibly anxious.<p>

"What is that for?" asked Mercedes, her eyes moving between Rachel and Jesse.

"I-Is there something in the h-house?" asked Tina with an emotionally drained voice. Even though her stutter from so long ago had been faked, she found herself actually doing it because of all the fear and trauma she had just experienced with the rest of them.

"_Things_ is more like it," said Jesse, looking back at Rachel who nodded in agreement.

"So you're telling me that we're not even safe in here?" asked Quinn, looking around as though expecting something to pop out from behind her.

"This is the last time we go with one of Berry's ideas," said Santana.

As the group took this as an opportunity to continue to talk trash about Rachel, Jesse sighed and leaned in to whisper something in her ear.

"You know, if it meant keeping you out of here and some place safe, I'd say I agree with the rest of them wishing they never went with your idea…"

Rachel frowned and nudged his arm slightly.

"And leave you to deal with those things by yourself? No way," she whispered back.

"Oh yeah, you totally got that one back there with the way you threw that rolling pin. You've got quite an arm," he joked, not even knowing how he was able to joke in such a dark time.

Tilting her head, she gave him an unamused look and shook her head.

"You're stuck with me now, okay?"

"Well, now that you're here already, I wouldn't have it any other way."

"Uhh… earth to Jesse and Rachel…" snapped Kurt, waving his hand at them.

Brought back to reality by Kurt's words, they both turned to see the entire room still looking at them. Kurt was eyeing the first aid kit in Rachel's hand expectantly. Remembering that she had it, she nodded and reluctantly let go of Jesse's hand to go hand it to him.

"Thanks for finding it," muttered, Mr. Schuester who looked worse than ever. "But wasn't Finn going to bring this? Where is he?"

With an exception of the scary lesions, he almost looked like the old cook back in the kitchens…

Looking back at Jesse, they both nodded and turned back to the rest of the group to address them.

"We went to investigate my sister's scream and the crashing sound and all we found was a blood covered broken vase… and that first aid kit a few feet away," Jesse explained, gesturing his hand towards the kit in Kurt's hand.

"We assume that both Lacey and Finn were running away from something," Rachel added as she walked back to Jesse for support.

"So they're gone?" asked Blaine, looking down at Kurt to see how he was taking the news about his step brother being missing.

"We assume they got away and are in another part of the house right now… but we're not that sure how safe the house is."

"Clearly, seeing as there were blood thirsty dogs on your property," said Quinn with a roll of her eyes.

"It's beyond dogs, guys. We just encountered a person in the kitchens who… I don't even know how to explain it because it'll sound crazy," Rachel tried to say, but she ended up shaking her head and looking to Jesse for a better explanation.

"She was covered in bite marks and scratches and she came after us… She tried to eat us," he said slowly. "And nothing we said or did stopped her until well…"

He raised the knife and shrugged slightly, letting them know that he killed her.

"Hell no," muttered Puck as he stood to his feet. "You're meaning to tell me that you've got motherfucking zombies in here?"

"Don't be ridiculous," muttered Mr. Schuester. "There's no such thing as zombies."

All of their eyes shifted towards him. Now that the subject of zombies had been brought up, Mr. Schuester's strange reaction to that dog bite was starting to seem a little fishy.

"Call them what you want, but they're mindless and hungry for flesh," Jesse said bluntly. "I thought that my dad fired the staff at this place, but maybe they're all still here… and maybe they've all somehow become just like that woman and just like those dogs outside."

"Well who's to say we didn't catch whatever it was they had?" asked Mike, glancing around at the rest of the group nervously.

"I don't think its air born. I've been here for a few days now with my brother and sister, them longer than me, and we've been fine. Whatever it is probably transmitted by—"

"A bite, duh. Don't you guys watch movies or play video games?" asked Puck, looking at them seriously.

The group looked from Puck to Jesse and Rachel, but they were too busy eyeing Mr. Schuester anxiously.

Brittany whimpered and shook her head.

"But I taste good. Zombies will come after me first..."

Santana sighed and rubbed her arm before losing her patience with everyone else completely.

""Hell no, you guys are crazy. I don't know what the hell is going on here, but we're going to let the fucking police decide what to do with it," she snapped, standing to her feet and grabbing her cell phone out of her coat pocket.

"It's useless," Jesse muttered under his breath.

When she realized that there was no signal, she groaned and seemed to be fighting the urge to toss her phone against one of the marble columns nearby.

"Your family sure picked a great place to live in the middle of fucking nowhere," she muttered as she set off towards the front door. "I can't handle this, I need to get out of here. I don't care if I have to hitchhike home. Brittz, you coming?"

Jesse sighed and leaned his back against the nearest column.

"And go back out with those dogs, then be my guest," he shrugged.

His words sent a shiver down Santana's spine and she released her grip on the door handle. Turning around slightly, she crossed her arms in front of her chest and leaned her back against the door.

"So what do you want us to do?"

"Zombie lore tells us what we should do," muttered Sam, pointing his chin towards Mr. Schuester. "Before it gets out of hand…"

"What are you guys talking about?" asked Mercedes quickly.

"You know what I'm talking about…" he muttered.

"Guys, I'm going to be fine. I'm probably just having some allergic reaction. I think that its just—" he muttered, but was cut off by a cough that ripped through his chest.

He coughed into his elbow and frowned when he saw that he had coughed up some blood.

"I just… need a rest. Jesse would you mind if I rested my eyes on your couch?" he asked, trying to push himself up but he couldn't.

Jesse nodded as he watched Kurt and Blaine help him up and carry him out towards the living room nearby.

"You're all being ridiculous. There's no such thing as zombies and you're actually suggesting we kill our teacher!" snapped Quinn once they were out of the room.

"I don't like it as much as you do, but what if they're right? What if he changes and what if he comes after one of us?" asked Sam.

Puck nodded in agreement.

"Those are a whole lot of what ifs," said Tina skeptically. "I-I mean, I'm expecting the zombie apocalypse like many others, but I don't think this is it. And if we actually try and kill Mr. Schuester and it turns out that we're wrong… well…"

"Okay, we won't do anything unless the need comes to it," said Jesse firmly with Rachel nodding in agreement. "Let's just hope we're wrong."

"What you are is crazy," said Santana.

"Anyway…" Jesse continued, choosing to ignore Santana. "We're going to go back and keep looking for Lacey and Finn…and my brother Kristian now that I think of it because I haven't seen him anywhere. If you want to help find your teammate, then I suggest we split up."

"You really don't watch horror movies, do you?" asked Puck again.

Sam nodded and stood up.

"Splitting up gives whatever is out there a chance to pick us all off," he explained.

"Splitting up allows us to cover more ground and find them faster so we don't have to spend all night searching," Jesse countered.

"Well what do we do when we find them? If the phones aren't working and there's zombie dogs around then we'll still be stuck here. Won't we?" asked Mercedes.

Jesse shook his head and looked towards the door.

"In the morning a detective and his team should be coming back to search this place. When he's here he can radio for backup and get us the hell out of here. But we need to find our missing people. Until then, we split up and search. This hall will be our meeting place if anything goes wrong. Sound good to you guys?"

There were a few reluctant nods from the girls and a few determined nods from the guys. They didn't want to do this, but they had to.

"And guys?" Jesse said before they could head off. "If you come into any more of those... things... grab the nearest blunt object you can find and go for the head. Aiming anywhere else will just be a waste of time."

"Going into the battle field without any guns. Great," muttered Puck, shaking his head.

Jesse and Rachel watched as they set off in groups. Quinn, Puck, Sam, and Mercedes climbed the stairs to the grand staircase and went for the doors on the left while Tina and mike took the door on the left of the second landing. Brittany and Santana both laced their fingers together and took the door next to the living room to search that side.

"There's an entire section back where we were that we haven't even touched," Jesse muttered, turning back towards the door that they entered.

"We should go warn Kurt and Blaine first. Don't you think?" Rachel whispered, squeezing his hand and tugging him back towards the living room. "We can go search afterwards."

"Let's just hope that Schuester doesn't turn into one of those things…" Jesse muttered as they approached the door. "That would be bad.."


	5. Anything

The living room was an incredibly tense place to be in. Mr. Schuester's condition wasn't getting any better and he had actually managed to fall out of consciousness the second his head hit the couch. Kurt sat on the coffee table next to the couch watching over him while Blaine stood by the fire staring into it in a daze. The events of the night were clearly taking a toll on all of them and it was only getting worse as the night went on.

When Jesse and Rachel stepped into the living room, Rachel immediately moved to sit next to Kurt and linked her arm with his.

"We can't let anyone else die," he whispered, tearing his eyes from Mr. Schuester to look Rachel in the eye.

She nodded silently and leaned her head on his shoulder.

Jesse moved over to Blaine and set the knife in his hand down on the mantel above the fireplace.

"How are you holding up?" he asked, looking from Blaine down to one of the pictures of his brother and sister on the mantel.

"It's just… surreal," he replied. "I just can't grasp the fact that we won't be seeing Artie in school anymore. And with Schue getting worse…"

He trailed off and glanced over to his sick coach with a sigh.

"Could it get any worse?" he asked quietly, keeping his eyes on Kurt from behind.

"Probably," Jesse muttered, keeping his eyes on Mr. Schuester as though expecting him to convert to some monster at any second. "And you should be prepared for it just in case."

Blaine nodded silently and brought his hand up to rub his tired eyes.

"Zombies, though? Really?" he asked, shaking his head in disbelief.

"It certainly seems that way," Jesse shrugged. "But I don't know how it works. I don't know how long it takes or any of that, but I do know that they're aggressive and they won't stop for anything once they become… one of them."

"What do you suggest we do?" asked Kurt, turning to look back at them for the first time. "We're not going to kill our teacher. We're not going to kill _anyone_."

"I didn't want to do it either. But if it ends up coming down to a situation where it's them or you… things change. It especially changes when you could potentially lose the person you love in the blink of an eye and you'd do anything in your power to protect them."

Jesse's eyes flashed over to Rachel and they shared a small, meaningful gaze. There was a tenderness and a sincerity in his eyes that was completely absent of his usual arrogant show face. With the way things were in this terrifying situation, there was no room for any of it anyway. His eyes made it clear as day to her and to the rest of the conscious people in the room that he was actually scared. It wasn't so much that he was scared of dying himself, as much as he was scared of something happening to the girl receiving the gaze. Words didn't have to be said to express just how much he loved her because that simple, honest look he gave her said it all. There had been many other occasions in the past where he had given her such a loving look, but none of them had the amount of nervous fear and concern that he was feeling for her right now.

And for the first time in a long time, his loving gaze was reciprocated.

There were no lingering thoughts of 'what if' with Finn after everything came crashing down with him. It was a mistake and she couldn't ignore the fact anymore. If she hadn't broken up with him tonight, it would have been some other time soon enough. Sure, she hoped he was alright and wished he wasn't missing, but when she found him, she had no intention of showering him with her usual amount of love for him. Those feelings were now left behind her and she had no intention of revisiting them. How could she when it was what was in front of her that was so much more appealing? Or how one simple glance from him was filled with such a bursting amount of unadulterated love and adoration?

"Anything," Rachel finally murmured with a nod. "Anything to keep _him_ safe."

Jesse noticed the '_him_' in Rachel's words and felt the corners of his lips curl up in a slight smile.

Kurt and Blaine shared a glance and without a word, Kurt stood up and ran into his arms for a loving and comforting embrace.

"Anything," Kurt whispered.

Blaine nodded and pulled his lips to his in a semi urgent moment of passion. Who knew what was in store for them this night? How many more chances might they get? It was definitely one of those moments where all the small petty things that people in relationships fight over get thrown out the window. The only thing that really mattered was the person in their arms.

Rachel and Jesse both watched them with a slight longing in their eyes. It was only natural to feel envious of what they had when their own love life wasn't the way it should be. It wasn't like now was the time to be having any serious relationship talks either when there were more important things to deal with. Or was it? Kurt and Blaine seemed to be taking a 'live each moment with your loved one as if it was your last' mentality.

Without a word, Rachel stood up and walked over to Jesse and allowed herself to lean against him. Before he could respond, she grabbed his arm and placed it around her waist to let him know that she wanted to be held. He brought his other hand up behind her to cup the back of her head and hold her against his chest.

"We should get going," Rachel murmured after a long moment, looking up at him with a frown. She certainly didn't want to, but she knew that they didn't have very much time left to spare.

Jesse nodded and turned to Kurt and Blaine with his arms still wrapped around Rachel.

"Just be careful. If you have to…" he began, reaching down for one of the wrought iron pokers next to the fireplace. "You do what you have to do and you aim for the head."

Kurt gulped at the thought, still seeming unsure about it all. Blaine seemed just as tense, but he managed a small nod.

"We'll be back to check on you guys in a bit and we'll give you an update if we can," said Jesse, letting go of Rachel and grabbing her hand.

He picked up the knife from the mantel and gave them both a wave goodbye as he led Rachel back towards the door.

"Be safe," she told them before turning her back to them and heading with Jesse out the door.

* * *

><p>"I don't know how we're going to cover so much ground. This place is huge and everyone else isn't as familiar with it as you are," said Rachel as they made their way through the entrance hall and back to the dining room to take the other door that they hadn't previously explored.<p>

"Well, to be honest, I don't have very much experience either," Jesse confessed.

"But you grew up here."

"Still," he shrugged. "I wasn't allowed to go into most parts of the house growing up. Even if I tried, there were certain parts that were always locked and my father was the only one who knew where they keys were. For a while, I tried breaking into those rooms out of sheer curiosity, but I stopped caring when I started spending more time in Lima with my uncle. Then once I joined Vocal Adrenaline, I made performance my life and those stupid exploration games seemed pointless."

Rachel didn't like the sound of Jesse's father being so secretive, even towards his own family. Why would someone go through such an effort to keep their own kids away from certain parts of the house? The art work around the mansion seemed pretty expensive, but he didn't think it was reason to keep the kids away. Now that Jesse and his brother and sister were no longer children, there should be no reason to keep up the secrecy at all. It just made no sense.

"Well if part of the house is locked, then that gives us less space to check," she said, looking on the bright side.

Jesse shook his head.

"There are some weird twisted ways around those doors if you really keep going. But the keys help you get there quicker by unlocking the main doors to those halls. So it would actually be good to find some," he explained.

"So how do we know where to look?" she asked curiously, still making sure to keep her eyes peeled for any sign of movement down the corridor.

Jesse thought for a moment as he looked around to see which door they should investigate first. There were just so many.

"Well, I think that my dad used to have a full map of the place in his study. It hung over his desk because he wanted everyone who came in to see that he owned this place," he explained. "We could go there and get it."

She nodded and followed him down the hall where there was another staircase that led up to a dark corridor.

Jesse gripped the knife in his hand tightly and began ascending the staircase with Rachel. Both of his hands were filled with something crucial. One hand held the hand of the girl he loved while the other held the tool he'd used to protect that girl. It might not do much against whatever it was that was out there, but it was better than being unarmed in general.

Rachel couldn't help but feel a little overwhelmed by the fact that Jesse was being so protective of her. He always made sure that he held her hand in the dark and didn't let her walk ahead of him until he inspected the area to make sure the coast was clear. He took such great care of her to keep her safe and she appreciated it more than she could say.

When they reached the top of the staircase, he looked around and listened for any sign of anything like he had done whenever they entered a room or turned a corner, but the coast was clear.

"There's a shortcut to my father's study this way," he whispered, pointing the knife towards where they had to go.

"Hey Jesse," Rachel whispered, taking a moment to stop looking around anxiously to focus on him.

"Yeah?"

"Despite the circumstances, I'm still glad I'm here with you," she said quietly.

"You're crazy," he muttered, managing a weak chuckle in response.

"Jesse," she whispered again, pulling his hand so he'd stop walking.

He didn't want to waste any more time, but he was going to allow her to say what she wanted to say for a quick moment before they went back to doing what they were doing.

"You've been on my mind a lot recently and it's not just because of all the times I've been hearing about your family in the news. I didn't really understand it that much but being with you here tonight and having you be so selfless… so willing to do anything for me and looking at me in a way that Finn has never done… It confirmed it for me."

Jesse looked down at her with slight curiosity.

"Confirmed what?"

"That this is where I belong. Right here with you," she confessed. "I had missed that completeness I felt with you and I was a fool to believe that Finn could ever give that to me. I was trying to make him into something he wasn't and was just wasting my time when the person I needed was right here… in this mansion… the whole time."

Jesse loosened his grip on the knife and felt the tension in his shoulders drop slightly. He was used to being the vulnerable one to put it all on the line these days. Having Rachel come clean about lingering feelings for him was a welcomed change. But he still couldn't help feel a little tense about it.

"You sure you're not just saying this because you think we might die?" he asked, looking down at her seriously.

She shook her head silently and touched her hand to his cheek.

"I know what I feel for you isn't just some heat of the moment thing," she said, grabbing his hand with her other hand and placing it over her heart. "This is real."

Biting her lip, she visualized the moment where they found Lacey and Finn and could get all their friends out of here. After that, when everything was as close to being alright again as possible, they could share a perfect kiss that would be like something out of the movies. It had certainly felt like they were in a movie all night, anyway, so why not have a good ending? It was the least they could have after all the trauma they were experiencing anyway. It could be one of the only good things to come out of such a horrific night.

Jesse stood there feeling Rachel's heart beating in her chest and swore to himself that he would do anything he could to make sure it stayed that way. Glancing into her eyes, he gave her a small smile.

"Rachel," he whispered, stepping closer to her in the darkness of the hall and lowering his head on her level so he could hover his lips near hers.

Despite the darkness, her eyes still seemed to shine like gorgeous lights and they captivated him as usual.

"I—"

Before he could say anything back to her, the sound of roaring thunder echoed outside the mansion. Lightning flashed through the old windows, flooding light briefly into the hallway and in that split second, they could both see the outline a figure in front of them. The sudden burst of noise, as well as the figure before them made Rachel scream and jump in terror. Jesse quickly jumped in front of Rachel and tried to get a better look to see if it was any of the members of New Directions or Finn and Lacey in front of him.

"Who's there?" he called out, holding his knife up just in case.

No response.

When another flash of lightning filled the hall, Jesse could make out the decayed face of another one of the old caretakers of the mansion coming right at him. Knowing what he had to do, he swiped the knife at the person's neck, and it didn't do a thing.

"Be careful!" Rachel squirmed, looking around for anything that she could possibly use to help fight it off.

She hated feeling so utterly powerless when Jesse was risking everything to keep her safe. There had to be something that she could do to contribute and return the favor. Fear of getting hurt wasn't even an issue right now because all she could think about was the fact that one wrong move could mean the end for him.

The undead man grabbed Jesse's shoulders and pushed him back against the wall with a hard thud.

"NO! Leave him alone!" Rachel shouted, feeling panic rise within her at the sight of Jesse being so close to being bitten.

Jesse reached the knife up and tried to bring it straight into his head, but the tight position he was in wouldn't allow it. Instead, he brought it down straight into the already ripped apart neck of the infected man trying to attack him. Having his hands so close to his face, though, made it easy for him to try and take a bite. If it wasn't for Jesse's quick reflexes, he just might have. But with the knife still lodged in his throat, he still continued his efforts in trying to consume Jesse's flesh.

Realizing that this might be it for him, he turned back to Rachel and saw her watching with tears in her eyes.

"Run!" Jesse shouted at her, not knowing what else to say.

"No!" she replied, turning around to continue to search for something to help, but it was useless in the darkness.

Another flash of lightning revealed a heavy antique candlestick on a small table against the wall. She grabbed it and rushed back to Jesse to help save him.

"Dammit, Rachel! Just run!" he shouted again, as he tried pushing the man off, but he was actually too strong.

"I'm not leaving you," she growled, raising the candlestick above her head and using as much force as she could possibly generate to smash it hard against the monster's head.

The blow to the head was actually enough to get it to let go of its vice grip on Jesse and step backwards. Not giving it a moment to recover, she quickly swung it one more time and hit the other side of its head as hard as she could. That one actually made it lose its balance and fall to the ground.

So filled with rage over the fact that this thing could have just taken Jesse from her, Rachel hit it again.

And again.

_And again._

It was only when Jesse grabbed her wrist from behind and held it back from delivering another blow that she actually stopped and realized that the thing was dead. Gritting her teeth, she kicked it furiously. How _dare_ it actually try and take Jesse from her? Straightening her coat, she huffed and turned back to Jesse.

"Are you okay?" she asked, scanning his face and neck for any signs of scratches or bites.

"I'm fine," he assured her, feeling glad deep down that she didn't choose to run away now.

"I couldn't leave you," she muttered, feeling her hands shake because she was still in shock after what just happened. "Just like I know that you wouldn't have left me if the tables were turned. I said I would do anything to keep you safe, too. It's not just you who has a responsibility to me, Jesse. I have one to you, too."

Jesse leaned in and nuzzled his nose against hers.

"Thank you," he whispered, not feeling the least bit embarrassed by the fact that Rachel had just literally saved his neck.

They were both in this together and had to have each other's backs. Of course he would do anything to keep her out of harm's way, but it felt good to know that Rachel could hold her own.

"You _really_ have got quite an arm there, you know," he muttered, this time seriously.

"And I'm ready to take on any more who dare come in between us," she said seriously.

Jesse chuckled and pressed his forehead to hers. While these tender moments were costing them time, he couldn't resist them. Especially not after all the time they had spent apart. But before they could actually kiss, a few loud sounds rang throughout the house. It wasn't anything like the lightning outside. It was actually the sound of gunshots ringing out inside of the house in the next hall beyond the door in front of them.

"What the hell? Who found a gun?" Jesse wondered out loud, eying the door in confusion.

"We should go find out. Maybe they need help," Rachel said, holding the candlestick in her hand up slightly.

Jesse nodded and bent down to grab the knife that was still lodged in the dead zombie's neck. It wasn't much, but it was still something. Hopefully he could replace it with something better now that he knew there were some more effective weapons in the house. He only hoped that the person in there didn't turn on them in the heat of the moment and shoot thinking that they were one of the undead. Waiting for the firing to stop, Jesse gripped the doorknob and turned it as he pulled it open to find out who it was.


	6. The Other St James Son

The hallway at the other end of the door was thankfully much better lit than the one Jesse and Rachel were just in. After pulling the door open, they both tentatively stepped into the next hall and peered around the corner to see who on earth was actually shooting a gun. At the far end of the hall with his back to them stood Kristian St. James with a handgun clutched in his right hand. Laying by his feet was the lifeless corpse of one of the previously walking dead filled with bullet holes provided by him.

When the sound of the door shutting behind Rachel and Jesse rang out, Kristian immediately spun around and aimed his gun at them instinctively.

"Hold it!" Jesse shouted, holding his hands up, one of them still clutching the knife.

Realizing that there wasn't another zombie at the door, Kristian relaxed and dropped his weapon.

"Shit, Kris, what the hell?" Jesse snapped, dropping his hands back to his sides and walking over to him with Rachel at his side.

"Have you not seen what's going around this place?" Kristian asked, gesturing his gun towards the corpse on the floor.

"Yeah, we have. But that doesn't mean you go aiming that thing at us without making sure we're still among the living. One slip of the finger and you could make a mistake that you can't take back," said Jesse seriously.

"Don't scold me, Jesse," Kristian replied, rolling his eyes and turning away.

"Where'd you find that thing anyway?"

Kristian raised the gun and looked down at it with a twisted smirk.

"Found it in Dad's study," he muttered wickedly.

"What the hell was he doing with a gun?"

Kristian shrugged and shoved the gun into the waistband of his jeans for safe keeping.

"Not my problem. Just my gain," he muttered, reaching into his pocket for a bottle of pills and popping the lid.

"Who's she?" he asked, pointing his chin towards Rachel as he grabbed one of the small pills and popped it in his mouth, swallowing it dry.

"This is Rachel," Jesse replied, eying his drug abusing brother in disgust. "And where did you get those?"

"Nicked them from Mom and Dad's room before," he said, rattling the pill bottle a little before pocketing it again.

Rachel looked from Jesse to Kristian curiously. While Kristian looked to be related to Jesse, he had this wildness to him that set him apart. His blonde hair would be somewhat near Jesse's perfect curls if he shortened it and actually bothered to comb it. What set him apart the most, though, was the mad look in his eyes that was only intensified by the dark circles under them. He was certainly not the kind of guy Rachel wanted to be left alone with anywhere.

"Rachel…" Kristian muttered, looking down at her with a smirk that was classically St. James. "Oh, you're the Girls Scout chick from the gate."

Rachel raised a confused eyebrow and looked back up at Jesse.

"Don't even bother," he muttered, grabbing her hand again and gesturing towards the end of the hall for them to continue.

Before leaving, he remembered what he was actually doing and stopped. Turning back to his brother, he frowned and called his name.

"Lacey went missing about forty minutes ago," Jesse said quietly. "She was—"

"What?" Kristian snapped, walking over towards his brother quickly. "How?"

"She was with a guy from Rachel's team trying to find a first aid kit for their wounded coach. We heard her screaming a few rooms down, but she was gone. Rachel and I are trying to look for her and her teammate right now," he explained.

"How did you let this happen, Jesse?" Kristian asked with his anger contorted face just inches away from Jesse's.

Jesse sighed and shook his head.

"Are you actually putting the blame for this on me? Are you going to blame everything that goes wrong on me?" he asked, quickly losing his patience. "Where the _hell _were you when she went missing anyway? Getting your latest fix? At least we've been useful looking for her this whole time!"

"Jesse, it's not worth it," Rachel spoke up from behind him, trying to grab his arm and lead him further down the hall.

Kristian sighed and looked down at his feet guiltily.

"No, you're right," he muttered, nodding slightly.

Jesse was so taken aback by Kristian actually agreeing with him that he just stood there with his mouth opened in slight shock. That was definitely the last kind of reaction he had expected from his younger brother.

"Look, I'm going to go look for her and do my part. And just so you know, I saw another gun hanging on the wall in that room right there. Didn't grab it because I already had this but I figure it would work better than that," he said, gesturing towards the knife in Jesse's hand. "I mean, that's if it's even loaded but it's worth a shot, right?"

"Thanks…" Jesse said slowly, still finding this to be quite weird for him.

Kristian managed a faint smile, but it didn't reach his eyes. Still, Jesse felt it was the thought that counted.

Nodding to Rachel, Jesse pulled the door to the room opened and walked in with Rachel behind her. This was one of the many rooms that Jesse had actually never explored before. It was as small as an elevator and completely empty of anything covering the marble walls and floors. It had a very high ceiling with a light in the center that lit up the whole room. At the edge of one wall was a door that Jesse could only assume led to the room that Kristian was talking about.

Rachel pulled it open and stepped in first, making sure to look around carefully just in case of anything. It was a simple office room that Jesse really had no idea what his parents used it for. The walls were covered with a few photographs of the St. James children throughout the years, but other than that, it didn't really feel like a room in an actual home.

"There's the gun," Rachel observed, pointing to a handgun mounted on a plaque on the wall. "Though I don't even see the point in hanging one of those things up for show…"

"Trust me. Neither do I," Jesse muttered, stepping towards it and running his hand over it. "But I guess it's good that we have it here, isn't it?"

Rachel nodded and bit her lip nervously. "Just be careful."

Grabbing the gun's handle, Jesse lifted it off the small hooks that were holding it up on the mount. As he pulled it off, the hooks clicked and lifted slightly now that they didn't have the weight of the gun to hold it down.

Jesse inspected the gun, wondering how to check if it had any ammunition. He felt a small button on the grip and it ejected the magazine when he pressed it.

"16 bullets," he counted before slamming it back into the gun and aiming it at something away from them.

Remembering how all the action heroes in the movies did it, Jesse grabbed the slide and pulled it back to load the first bullet in the chamber.

"Always wanted to do that," he muttered with a smirk.

"Jesse…" Rachel muttered nervously. "That's a real gun you have there. Just… please be careful."

He gave her a look before looking back at the weapon and searching for the safety. Once it was on, he showed it to her.

"There. Now there won't be any accidental firing," he explained as he started to head out the door. "Let's go."

Jesse glanced around the strange empty marble room in between the last room and the hall one more time before reaching for the doorknob.

It wouldn't budge.

"The hell…" Jesse muttered under his breath, trying to pull it open but it wasn't letting him.

"What's wrong?" Rachel asked, leaning against the wall next to the door as she watching him try to wrestle the door open.

"It's locked!" he replied. "There isn't even a damn key hole on the door for that to even be possible."

Rachel took a deep breath and tried to keep calm over the situation.

"Hey, is anyone out there?" he called, banging his fist against the door. "Kris?"

"We can't be stuck in here. It was just open a few moments ago. Maybe there's some switch around. I don't know…" Rachel said quickly, running her hands along the walls. "How did this happen?"

Jesse kicked the door in frustration.

"Jesse, look!" Rachel called, motioning for him to leave the door and come see something on the other wall.

He sighed in frustration and looked over at what Rachel was pointing at. There was a spot down on the lower part of the wall with a small numeric keypad with a bright green screen reading a red message flashing "WARNING" repeatedly.

"You've gotta be kidding me," he said, walking over to it and bending down to examine it. He punched in a few random numbers to see what would happen.

ERROR: INCORRECT CODE. 2 TRIES LEFT.

"If my dad ever shows up again, I'm gonna kill him for installing this," Jesse growled under his breath.

"Just calm down. We'll get this," Rachel assured him, bringing her hand up to rub his back. "Try his birthday."

Jesse nodded and punched it in.

ERROR: INCORRECT CODE. 1 TRY LEFT.

"Your mother's birthday?" she asked, shrugging slightly. "Anyway, what happens when you run out of tries?"

Jesse thought for a moment and looked back at Rachel quickly.

"Maybe it notifies the police. Like some sort of security system," he said excitedly. "Maybe this is just what we need!"

Rachel smiled and nodded enthusiastically.

"Then just make sure you get it wrong."

"That means I should try my own birthday. No way in hell it'll be that," Jesse muttered, rolling his eyes and looking back at the keypad.

He entered it and just as he had expected, it flashed the red error message.

However after it disappeared, it flashed a large ominous, 'GOODBYE'.

The lights on the ceiling flickered for a few seconds before a loud CLICK rang through the room.

"What was that?" Rachel whispered, looking up at the ceiling slowly.

Jesse shook his head nervously and turned back towards the door.

"Kristian!" he called out again, hoping his brother was still in the hall so he could help him. "Kris are you out there? We're locked in!"

He waited a moment to see if he could hear a response, but there was nothing.

On the other side of the door, Kristian stood leaning against the opposite wall with his arms crossed. He could hear his brother calling out for him clearly, but didn't bother moving a muscle to help him. When he heard the click from inside the room, his lips curled into the most wicked grin imaginable.

Back inside the room, Jesse was still pounding on the door, hoping somebody would hear them.

"Jesse!" Rachel cried out, looking up at the ceiling in terror.

The sound of gears moving could be heard from within the walls and dust began to fall from the corners.

Jesse abandoned the door to look up at it and his eyes widened in horror as the ceiling actually began to slowly descend on them.

Rachel quickly made a dash for the door to the other room where they had gotten the gun in the first place, but it wouldn't budge either.

"It's locked, too!" she shouted, banging her fists on the door in hopes that it would somehow make it budge.

"Shit," Jesse muttered, wondering what the hell he could do.

Turning back towards the door, he took a few steps back and quickly rammed the side of his body against it.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

Nothing.

So full of frustration, he kicked the door as hard as he couldn't but it was no use.

Rachel leaned back against the wall and watched as the ceiling continued to slowly descend on them. If something wasn't done quickly, they'd both be crushed alive. Could this really be it? Was her life actually going to end before she ever got the chance to make any of her dreams come true? Her lip quivered at the thought of dying in such a terrifying way and she began slowly sinking to the floor in the corner as she watched it continue to close in on them.

Jesse grabbed the gun from his jeans and released the safety, aiming it at the doorknob and pulling the trigger. The recoil knocked him backwards a few steps, and it was good that it did because the bullet only managed to ricochet off the doorknob and it would have hit him had he still been standing where he was before.

He aimed to take another shot, but he didn't want to risk having it bounce off and hit Rachel.

"HELP!" she called out from the corner next to him, praying that someone could hear her. "SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP US!"

Jesse looked down at the shaking and sobbing brunette and back up to the ceiling which was only a good three feet away from his head right now.

"I'm getting us out of here," he promised her, taking a few steps back to try ramming it again.

"Help…" she whimpered, leaning against the wall and wiping some tears from her face.

Rachel watched with tears continuing to stream down her cheeks as Jesse tried and tried, but she knew it was no use. It was the end for them and there was nothing they could do.

"Jesse…" she called out weakly. "JESSE!"

"What?" he called back, not wanting to stop for a second because they were running out of time.

"It's no use!" she cried, shaking her head and looking back up the ceiling.

By now it was just about an inch from the top of Jesse's head while standing upright.

"Don't say that," he replied before ramming the door again.

"Please Jesse," she whimpered, crawling over to him and tugging at his hand. "It's over. Can't you just… hold me before we die?"

Rachel's words seemed to slow everything down around him for a moment. He looked up at the ceiling for a second and then back to her.

"We can't give up!" he said through gritted teeth before he rammed it again.

"Jesse… please," she begged, grabbing his hand again and pulling for him to join her.

Nodding silently, he let his back hit the door and allowed himself to slide down to the floor with her. He refused to look up at the descending ceiling and instead chose to focus his attention entirely on Rachel. Wrapping his arms around her, he pulled her tightly into his arms and kissed the top of her head as she buried it into the crook of his neck and cried.

"Rach…" he whispered, placing his hand at the side of her cheek to get her to look up at him.

He ran his thumb along the edge of her face and pushed her hair back behind her ear like he always used to. Looking down into her terrified eyes, he felt his own begin to sting.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, wiping away a few of her tears with his thumb. "I'm sorry I couldn't save us."

She shook her head and leaned her face into his hand.

"You tried."

"I wish you never showed up here," he said as a tear fell down his cheek.

"I don't," she replied, shaking her head. "I told you, this is where I belong."

"Don't even—"

"Jesse, _please_. I don't want to spend our last moments arguing and talking about things we have no control over," she said quickly, reaching up to place both of her hands at the sides of his cheeks. "Just kiss me."

He nodded and pulled her lips against his without another word. Threading his fingers through her hair, he pulled her in closer to deepen it because he planned on making their last kisses their best. He hated that it had taken so long for them to share a kiss again, but he was still going to savor it. He broke the kiss for a moment and noticed that the ceiling was a few inches from their heads now and it wouldn't be long before they were crushed.

Looking back at her, he stroked her cheek and pecked her lips one more time.

"I love you," he whispered, looking down at her with so much love in his eyes.

He wasn't just saying that because they were going to die, either. He had always known this to be a fact for a long time and she did too.

"I love you, too," she replied, placing one of her shaking hands at his cheek and pulling his lips to his one last time.

In the midst of the kiss, Rachel grabbed the gun from where it was on the floor next to Jesse, but he quickly grabbed it from her.

"What are you doing?" he asked quickly.

"Wouldn't it be better if... we did it?" she asked, reaching for it again. "We could take turns..."

"Can't do that. I can't watch you kill yourself if you go first and I won't leave you to die by yourself if I go first," he replied, tossing the gun aside.

She nodded, knowing that she felt the same way.

"Together then,"she whispered, climbing into his lap and burying her face into his chest.

They both closed their eyes and held each other as they waited for their imminent doom. Now that it was actually coming, they didn't care so much that they would die before making their dreams come true. In the grand scheme of things, it didn't really matter right now. What mattered was their life up until this point and the experiences they had to make it a worthwhile one. It was comforting, even if only a little, to know that they weren't dying alone. They'd get to die with the person they loved and while it would definitely be the most painful experience of their lives, having it happen with the one they loved made it a little less scary.

Outside of the room, Kristian still stood there waiting for it to happen, but the smile had faded from his face. Doubt had risen within him and he wasn't really sure if he wanted this to happen. He had been angry with Jesse for leaving him and Lacey to deal with their parents by themselves and he had also gotten pissed off over the fact that Jesse let Lacey go missing, but did he really want him dead?

Pressing his ear against the door, he could hear the gears continuing to lower the ceiling like he knew they would and he wondered if there was any time left to fix it.

"Jesse!" he called out to him, banging the door.

From the inside of the room, Jesse's eyes snapped open at the sound of his brother's voice. Rachel poked her head up and looked up at Jesse with actual hope in her eyes.

"Kris?" he shouted, turning to press his ear to the door.

"You need to put a code into the keypad!" Kristian shouted.

"I know! I ran out of tries!" Jesse called out as he raised his leg to the ceiling in an attempt to stop it, but it wasn't working.

"No, there's an override code!" he shouted back.

"Do you know it because that would really be helpful right about now!"

"Yeah. Its 3357!"

Before Jesse even had the chance, Rachel dashed out of his arms and scrambled over to the key pad, thanking God that it was installed low to the ground because if it wasn't, it would have been crushed by the wall by now.

"Did you hear the code?" Jesse asked, crawling up behind her and using all the strength he could muster to try and hold the ceiling from coming down any further.

"Yeah, 3357," she repeated as she punched in each digit carefully and hit EXECUTE.

The numbers on the keypad disappeared and were replaced with a green, "OVERRIDE ACCEPTED" and the sound of the gears came to a screeching halt. They both looked up at the ceiling and waited to see if anything would happen. After a moment of silence, the gears began shifting again, but this time they must have been turning in the opposite direction because the ceiling was starting to rise again.

"Holy shit," Jesse whispered, closing his eyes and letting himself sink to the floor.

He sighed and brought his hands to his face to rub his eyes.

Rachel sighed in relief and looked down at Jesse with a small smile. She grabbed one of his hands and brought it to her lips.

Looking up at her, Jesse moved his hand from hers and let it rest on her cheek.

"Come here," he growled, sitting up quickly and kissing her with such a fierce intensity that conveyed just how much love he felt for her, and just how happy he was right now, especially now that they had a chance to spend more time together alive.

When the ceiling reached its usual position high above them, the door back to the hall clicked back open. Not wanting to spend any more time in the human trash compactor room, he quickly stood back up and helped Rachel get back to her feet before grabbing the gun and throwing the door open so they could run outside. He leaned against the opposite wall as he tried to calm down, but he was still completely on edge after what just happened.

Knowing that they could have just died right now, Rachel wrapped her arms around herself and just stared off at the door to that terrifying room with bloodshot eyes.

"You two okay?" Kristian asked from where he stood next to him.

At the sound of Kristian's voice, Jesse slowly looked up and turned to face him.

"You knew," he muttered, shaking his head at him. "You fucking knew and you sent us in there to die!"

Kristian ran his hand through his messed up hair anxiously and shook his head.

Jesse was all out of patience right now after what he had just experienced and he quickly grabbed Kristian's shirt and pushed him hard against the wall.

Rachel stood there behind them with her eyes still on the door. She could hear the argument going on, but she couldn't bring herself to intervene right now.

"I got you two out of there, didn't I?" Kristian asked quickly as he tried to free himself from his brother's grip.

"What the hell is wrong with you? Have the drugs screwed up your brain that much?" he shouted, feeling the urge to just hit him right now.

"Shut up!"

Jesse had obviously hit a sore spot within his brother and it made him look down at him with hurt as well as his usual anger.

"I was so mad. You left us, Jesse. You left us to fucking deal with all this shit from Dad by ourselves. And then Lacey went missing and I just wanted to punish you," he confessed. "But I couldn't let you die. I don't hate you that much."

Jesse loosened his grip on Kristian's shirt and took a step back. While he didn't feel as though Kristian's actions were in any way justified, he still hated that he caused problems by losing touch with his brother and sister. It didn't make him any less mad though.

"How did you even know about that thing?" he asked Kristian, pointing to the door. "And how did you know the code?"

Kristian shifted slightly and put his hands in his pockets.

"Dad keeps a lot of his prescription meds around his offices. I went snooping for some and saw the gun. If he hadn't walked in on me and caught me in time to punch in the right code, I would have been a goner. He told me that the trap was one of many around here and that's why he didn't want us going into places that were off limits. As for why there's traps at all… I don't know."

Jesse just stared at Kristian in disbelief. His explanation didn't really seem to matter right now, anyway. Glancing back at Rachel, he noticed how silent she had been. He hated just how utterly traumatized she looked right now and it was all Kristian's fault.

"Apologize to Rachel. You could have killed her, a person who did nothing to you. So you owe her at least that much," he ordered, pointing to Rachel.

Kristian nodded and looked over at Rachel.

"I'm sorry… I didn't… I'm sorry," he said quietly before looking back at Jesse remorsefully. "I need help."

"You're damn right you need help," Jesse spat before turning back to Rachel and pulling her into his arms.

Kristian just stood there trembling slightly, opening his mouth to speak but he was having trouble getting the words out.

"H-help me," he finally whispered, beginning to shake even more now that he had made himself so vulnerable. "_Please_."

Jesse and Rachel both looked over at the other St. James boy in slight shock. After everything that they had just been forced to go through by him, they couldn't even begin to process his plea.

"Forget it…" Kristian muttered, turning back around and running off out into the next hall.

"Your brother just tried to kill us," Rachel whispered, looking up at Jesse with wide eyes.

There wasn't anything that Jesse could say in response to that. He just nodded and pulled her close against his chest. He knew they should get it together and move on soon if they wanted to find Lacey and Finn, but right now they both needed to just stay put until the crippling feeling of terror subsided.


	7. Help From Mom

**A/N: Its been fun writing our favorite Glee characters in similar settings and situations from the Resident Evil games. Resident Evil was my very first fandom I was a part of so to get to mix the two has been awesome. I only ask that you guys can hopefully give me some reviews because I'd really love to see what your thoughts are on the mystery and what's happening with the characters. Your feedback will be greatly appreciated!**

* * *

><p>"Let's keep moving."<p>

Rachel immediately reached out to tug at Jesse's sweater and pull him back to her because she wasn't ready to get back to searching. The fear that hit her after such a terrifying near death experience had rendered her blood ice cold and she needed the feel of his strong arms around her until she could feel warm again.

"Rach…" he whispered, moving back to her with a sigh. He caught the look of terror that was still haunting her in her eyes and he knew what she wanted. "I know. I know... But we need to find Lacey and who knows what'll show up if we stay put. We need to keep moving."

"I know," she whispered, her voice full of dread for the possibility of how it could only get worse later on. "Just… give me one more moment."

He nodded and pulled her to him, allowing her to nestle herself safely in his arms so she could feel some sort of security, if only for a moment. Letting his chin rest on the top of her head, he ran his fingertips through her now slightly mussed dark tresses because it helped ease his own anxiety that he was trying to keep stifled in an effort to be strong for her. Hearing her begin to sniffle, he pressed his lips to the top of her head and let them linger there.

"We're alive, Rach," he whispered, pulling away a little so he could look down at her.

He placed his hands on the sides of her cheeks so she would be forced to look up at him as he spoke to her.

"That means that we need to go live now. The longer we stand here in the aftershock of what just happened, the more likely fear will overcome us. Then we'll never survive this," he murmured softly as he let the pads of his thumbs slowly rub her cheeks soothingly.

"What if…" she began, her lip quivering slightly. "What if fear has already overcome me?"

Shaking his head, he pressed his lips to her forehead once more.

"It's okay to be scared. I'll let you in on a little secret," he muttered, looking down at her with the weakest of smiles. "I'm scared, too. I'm scared I'll never find my sister. I'm scared for my obviously mental brother. I'm scared for you…"

"I'm scared for you, too," she whispered, grabbing his hand and pressing her lips to his fingers.

He smiled at her small display of affection and nodded.

"The point is, fear still hasn't gotten to you completely yet. I see it in your eyes. You're a fighter, Rachel. There's a resilience in you that I'm not sure that even you can recognize yourself sometimes. But it's there and it's burning brighter than you think," he spoke softly.

After all this time, he still believed in her more than anything and she loved him for it. He always knew exactly what to say whenever she was in a moment of self doubt and that apparently was still true in a moment of life and death.

"Thank you," she whispered, leaning up on her tip toes to press a grateful kiss to his lips. "I'm ready now."

He nodded and reached out for her hand which she quickly took. Giving it a gentle squeeze, she started walking with him towards the door that led to the next hall feeling prepared for whatever this mansion threw at them next.

"Let's check some of these rooms," Rachel muttered, reaching out for the doorknob to a room.

He nodded, but pulled her behind him so that he could protect her in case of anything.

Pulling the door open, he flicked the light switch on and peered around at the old room that was littered with old toys and drawings on the walls. His eyes widened as he recognized it, having not been inside it for years. The toys were strewn about the floor as though the children playing with them had just left them moments ago. The way everything was exactly as it was left before made it seem like a time capsule into the past. There wasn't very much dust covering them to reveal just how much time had passed since then, but Jesse knew how long it had been.

Taking a few steps into the room, Jesse bent down and picked up an old porcelain doll that Lacey had begged their mother to have made in her likeness when she and Kristian were six years old.

"Was that hers?" Rachel asked as she reached out to touch the dolls gentle blondish curls with her fingertips.

He gave her a small nod before setting it back down where it was before so as not to ruin the picture of his childhood that laid out before him.

"We used to play here," he explained with a small smile. "This was the one room that we were actually allowed to destroy whenever we wanted."

Rachel smiled and walked along the walls to examine the crayon drawings tacked up into the expensive wallpaper. There were drawings of super hero versions of the three children signed by a young Kristian as well as hearts and flowers by Lacey. There were even a few signed in by a young Jesse St. James.

"Your handwriting has improved immensely over the years," Rachel muttered as she observed a drawing of what she assumed was himself and a woman at a piano.

"It better have after all the times I practiced," he replied, picking up a stack of papers filled with nothing but his own signature over and over done in marker and crayon.

Rachel giggled and shook her head at him as she picked up a Barbie doll sitting next to an old doll house in the corner.

"I used to have this one," she muttered, looking back at Jesse.

He was now preoccupied with an old picture on his hands.

"What's that?" she asked, setting the doll back down and walking over to him.

Without saying a word, he handed her the old picture and walked away from her to look at something else. It was a picture of the three St. James children all together. Lacey and Kristian were around six or seven and Jesse was only a little bit older. Jesse was caught mid-laughter as Lacey and Kristian were latched onto him for the taking of the photo. There was no trace of tension between the siblings at all because this was long before they had any issues between each other. It captured the absolute innocence of childhood that even Jesse had gotten to experience, even if it was only for a short time. The more she thought about it, the more the picture only saddened her as she wondered what it made go through Jesse's mind when he saw it.

Looking back over at him, she saw him crouched down in a corner trying to pull up a loose floorboard.

"I wonder if it's still here…" Jesse muttered as he hooked his fingertips along the edges and pulled it out.

Underneath the floorboard was a dusty old wooden box that had been carefully hidden for probably only Jesse and his siblings knew how long. Rachel watched as he pulled it open and pulled out a few old toys and pictures. At the bottom of the box were a few old VHS tapes.

"Favorite musicals?" Rachel asked as she bent down next to him.

"No," he muttered, pulling one out and blowing the dust off. "We made these."

She watched as he stood up and walked over to the TV to pop in the tape, not having the heart to remind him that they should move on towards the next room just yet.

He sat in front of the TV with his legs crossed Indian style as he hit play and waited for the video to start. As the image of this very room started to focus on the TV, Rachel crawled up next to Jesse and let her head rest on his shoulder.

"_Make sure it's not crooked_," she could hear a much younger Jesse say from off screen.

Just hearing him alone brought an immediate smile to her face.

The younger Jesse came in front of the camera and smiled as he ran his hand through his messed up curls.

_"Jesse, quit being a ham,_" Lacey called out from the corner of the screen in her pink tutu.

"_Fine. Fine. Are you two ready? We're going to get it right this time because we need to have it ready for when Mom and Dad come back from their vacation,_" Jesse said with his arms crossed.

"_Yeah, yeah…_" a younger Kristian with shorter hair muttered from where he sat near Jesse. "_What are we doing again?_"

Jesse sighed and shook his head at his younger brother in frustration.

"_I'm the hero and you're my evil brother who is jealous of my super powers. Lacey is the damsel in distress and I have to save her from you. Then—_"

_"Well, why do I have to be the bad guy?_" Kristian groaned. _"Can't we just work together as a team? Please, Jesse?_"

Jesse shook his head and rolled his eyes.

"_We can fight crime together and take down all the bad guys because nothing could stop us!_" Kristian continued in excitement.

_"But who will be the bad guy?_" Jesse asked. "_There always has to be a bad guy, Kris. But don't worry. After I save the day, I can help you cross over from the dark side and everyone will live happily ever after. Its win-win."_

Kristian looked up at Jesse skeptically, but ended up nodding anyway.

"_I still don't like being bad,_" Kristian grumbled.

"_I won't let you stay that way. It's what the hero older brother does,_" Jesse explained with a smirk.

Kristian looked down and set his action figure aside.

"_Then we can be a team of good guys?_" he asked slowly.

_"Yup!"_

_"Okay, deal!"_

They both shared a special secret handshake that they had invented themselves, probably in this very room.

"_Can we start now?_" an impatient Lacey called out.

Jesse nodded and looked back at the camera before calling, "_Action!_" and quickly getting into character.

The second that the younger Lacey began screaming and shouting for Jesse to help her on the screen, Jesse reached up and quickly stopped the video from continuing any further.

"Jesse…" Rachel whispered, placing her hand on his shoulder. "We'll find her. I have a feeling she's okay. Trust me."

He nodded silently and pushed himself up off the floor before pulling her up with him.

"I forgot how good things used to be between us," he muttered, his eyes flashing over to that old picture behind Rachel.

"You still have time to fix that. We can find Lacey and then get your brother the intensive therapy that he needs—"

"I fucked up, Rach," he muttered with his eyes on the floor. "There was a time when Kristian looked up to me and kept trying to be like me. Now he hates me because I left them for UCLA and then never returned after I flunked out."

"Why?" she mumbled.

He sighed and pulled her towards the door so they could continue their search as he explained.

"It was easier," he shrugged. "I didn't want to come back to the way things were around here with my mom and dad. They were hardly around because of their work at Umbrella, but when they were it was always a mess. My dad would boss my mom around and threaten her. It reached a point where we all just wished she'd leave him but she never did."

"I'm sorry you had to experience that," she muttered as she pulled the door open to another room to see if there were any clues.

"It wasn't even just that," he explained as he searched the room. "My dad never saw us as his children and he made that clear in the way he treated us. He saw us as tools to promote the St. James family name because that's all he ever wanted- The St. James name down in history. So… he pushed us and pushed us. Lucky for me, I was resilient and had a passion for performance. He liked that and figured I would be useful. Lacey and Kristian, though, not so much…"

"How come?" she asked, stepping back into the hall and reaching for another door.

"Lacey always liked dance, but she was never featured as a star in any of her recitals. That meant that Dad would never bother showing up. She worked her ass off trying to achieve perfection so she could make him proud like I did, but it never happened. She worked at it so much that she became bulimic because she thought she needed to the perfect ballerina body to be a star."

"And Kristian?" Rachel asked as they stepped back into the hall.

"He tried following in my footsteps but we both knew that he didn't really share my passion for musical theatre and show choir. I told him to find his own thing, but I don't know what happened. He formed a band with a few friends and they were pretty good but I guess they got involved with drugs and that was the end of that."

"Where was your mom in all this?" she asked, crossing her arms in front of her chest in annoyance.

Jesse shrugged and used his gun to pull another door open.

"She always supported my dad… like she was scared of him," he muttered.

"But she could have stepped in and prevented it from getting as bad as it did," she went on.

He shook his head and stepped back out of the room with her.

"I could have probably done something but it reached a point where I put my entire soul into Vocal Adrenaline and my future because I wanted to get away from this place so badly. Then when I finally left, I never looked back," he said regretfully.

"You can't regret that, Jess… You had to get away and make your dreams come true," she murmured, reaching her hand to rub his back.

"I knew I had to leave and go my own way, but I could have called… I could have visited when I came back. But I didn't. I couldn't…" he muttered, shaking his head.

"Jesse…"

Without saying anything else, he pushed the next door open and aimed his gun around as he looked it over. When he was sure that it was secure, he nodded for Rachel to come inside so they could explore it. One more look around the room told him exactly where they were.

"This room belonged to my mother," he explained, running his hand along the grand piano in the center of the room.

There were shelves of songbooks and old records lining the walls, making it an incredibly vast music library that Rachel had only dreamed of.

"It's beautiful," she smiled, walking towards one of the shelves to examine the music selection.

"This was where it all started," he explained. "She said I was gifted with a pianist's hands and would give me lessons whenever she had time free from work. I'd come in here and practice in between lessons so she'd be proud of me."

"I'm sure she was."

He smiled to himself and nodded.

"Bring me Moonlight Sonata?" he asked as he sat down on the bench and lifted the lid.

"Are you sure you want to play right now? I mean—"

"Please?" he asked quietly.

Rachel nodded and ran her fingertips along the sheet music which was all carefully organized in alphabetical order. Finding what she was looking for, she pulled it out and handed it to him.

"This was the last thing my mother taught me before she gave me my own piano in a different part of the house."

Rachel sat next to him and watched as his fingers floated over the keys to play the beautiful classical melody. As the music filled the room, she imagined a younger Jesse sitting there with his mother so many years before. Playing the song seemed to make some of the tension subside for Jesse as his face and shoulders grew more relaxed.

"This was her favorite song," he muttered as he played. "She said, 'Play it whenever you're sad and I'll be there.'"

There was a bittersweet edge to his words that made Rachel's heart ache for him. Despite everything that he had been through with his family, she knew that Jesse was worried about her now that she was missing. She hated that he was losing so many people in his life right now. First his parents go missing and then Lacey. To top things all off, his brother tries to have him killed. She couldn't even imagine how he was feeling right now. The only thing she could bring herself to do was to kiss his cheek and lean against him so he knew that he always had her.

Just as he hit the final note, there was a sound of stone grating against stone behind them. They both immediately whipped their heads around in terror to see what was going on now. After their near death experience with the ceiling before, they were both incredibly paranoid over things turning into death traps in the house.

The only thing that seemed to happen, though, was a piece of wall moving upwards to reveal a small hidden nook.

"…The hell…" Jesse whispered, standing up and heading towards it.

Rachel followed after him with her mouth half open in shock.

"Your house keeps getting stranger and stranger, Jesse," she muttered as they inspected the nook.

There wasn't really anything there except for a ton of baby pictures from Jesse, Kristian, and Lacey's childhood and a small box on a shelf in the center.

A box with Jesse's name on it.

"It's from her," he whispered, recognizing her script on the small note with his name.

Rachel bit her lip and watched as he pulled the box from his mother open to see what was inside. The first thing he pulled out was an old looking key with a lion on it. Next, there was a golden locket that must have been an old antique by the way it looked. Underneath it all was a letter addressed to Jesse.

He picked it up and quickly flipped it open, reading it out loud so Rachel wasn't left in the dark.

_"My dearest Jesse,_

_If you're finding this, you've probably already realized that this house isn't what it seemed to be. There are reasons why your father and I discouraged you and your brother and sister from exploring it. There are dark secrets within these walls that I didn't feel you were ready to know. I need you to know that everything that I've ever done has all been in your best interest to protect you. I always knew that there would come a time for you to know the answers and I hoped that it was I who would be able to carefully explain them to you when you were of age. I left this as a precaution in case something happened to prevent me from it. _

_After you mastered the Moonlight Sonanta, I had this hidden room built to only open whenever the song was played on my piano. It was my secret and I hoped that someday you would discover it if in the event something happens that I cannot explain in time. In this box is the key that you will need to find all the answers in your father's safe within his study._

_Find the truth and do good with it._

_~Mom_

_PS: Guard the locket."_

He carefully folded the paper up and put it in his pocket.

"What do you think this all means?" Rachel asked as she rubbed his back lightly.

"It means that this just got way more confusing than it already was," he muttered as he pocketed the key. "But we'll find out whatever we need to know in my Dad's study- hopefully figure out what my mom wants me to know about this house… and maybe it'll help us find Lacey."

He reached for the locket and ran his thumb against the gold edge. It was a pretty big locket in comparison to the standard size kind. It was about two inches long in the shape of a golden diamond. There was an indentation in the front that formed the shape of the St. James family crest.

"It doesn't open," he observed as he tried it.

"It's still beautiful," she shrugged, leaning in to take a closer look.

"You wear it, then," he muttered, undoing the clasp and walking around Rachel to drape the chain around her neck.

"Oh no, I couldn't. It's your mother's, Jesse," she said quickly, but he continued to put it on her anyway.

"She wanted me to guard this precious family heirloom and it looks better on you. Trust me," he muttered, reaching for her shoulders and spinning her around to look at him.

She ran her hand over the locket and smiled at the thought of wearing something that had probably been in Jesse's family for quite some time. He actually loved her enough to trust her with it.

"Okay, let's go."

They laced their fingers together and left the room before pushing the last door of the hall open. They found themselves right back where they started in the entrance hall, only this time they were on the second floor right next to the grand staircase.

"Well that entire passage led us in a circle," Rachel muttered as she walked past him and down the stairs.

"Where are you going?" he asked, quickly following after her.

"Blaine and Kurt are still with Mr. Schuester and I'd feel better if we checked on them," she explained, reaching the bottom of the staircase and heading in the direction of the door.

Just as she reached out for the doorknob, the sound of Blaine's voice ripped through the hall from inside.

"KURT, GET AWAY! GET AWAY NOW!"

That was enough to get Jesse to charge in front of Rachel and draw his weapon as he pulled the door open.

"Stay out here. You shouldn't see this," he said quickly.

"Like hell I am," she rolled her eyes, grabbing the door and pulling it open wider so he could go in first.

Upon entering the room, they saw Blaine standing in front of them with the wrought iron poker in his hands. He seemed to be having second thoughts about actually swinging it at Mr. Schuester in front of him. Kurt was on the floor, after seeming to have just tripped in a quick attempt to get away from his former teacher. Mr. Schuester stood there, looking confused as to who he wanted to go for first.

"Mr. Schue?" Blaine asked tentatively, seeming to hope the teacher would respond to prove he was among the living.

Instead of answering, he quickly lunged at him and Blaine didn't waste any time in swinging the poker.

But it wasn't enough.

Mr. Schuester quickly lunged at him again, letting out an eerie moan as he reached for him.

By this point, Jesse had enough and raised the gun towards Mr. Schuester.

"Blaine, get down!" he shouted as he wrapped his other hand around his wrist to steady himself.

Not needing to be told twice, Blaine ducked and crawled over towards Kurt to see if he was alright.

Jesse swallowed hard and gritted his teeth as he braced himself for what he had to do.

"Just do it," Rachel encouraged him with tears in her eyes. "It's not him anymore…"

He nodded and squeezed the trigger, sending a bullet right into his throat. Mr. Schuester was of course unfazed by this and continued to limp forward towards them.

"Damn it," he whispered, trying to steady the gun again so he could make a head shot.

He squeezed the trigger once more and actually managed to hit him right in his forehead, causing him to fall back on the carpeted floor and grow still.

"Is he…" Kurt whispered, looking up at Jesse with terror filled eyes.

Jesse lowered his gun and nodded without a word.

Behind him, Rachel was leaning against the wall trying to hold herself together. Things were starting to become far too much for her to handle as the night went on. But she was determined not to fall apart because that was the last thing any of them needed to get out of here.

Pushing herself away from the wall, she grabbed the blanket that was draped over the couch and pulled it over Mr. Schuester's body.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Schue," she whispered as she made sure to cover him entirely. "I'm sorry this happened."

Pushing herself back up to her feet, she looked over at Kurt and Blaine.

"You two alright? No bites?" she asked, scanning them quickly with her eyes.

"We'll live," Blaine whispered.

"Well… Jesse and I have to keep going. You're free to join us if you like," she offered, pointing towards the door.

Kurt shook his head and looked back to the covered body of their former teacher.

"I'd like to stay here for a bit and say goodbye," he whispered, looking back at Blaine to see if he'd stay with him.

"Go ahead and keep looking. We'll be here," said Blaine quietly.

Rachel nodded and turned back towards the door, afraid to meet Jesse's gaze because it might actually make her break down and run into his arms all over again.

"Rach…" he muttered, following after her back into the entrance hall.

"I'm fine," she assured him quickly as she straightened her coat. "Your father's study… where is it?"

Jesse frowned and grabbed her hand, gently squeezing it to give her some silent support.

"It's this way…"


	8. Fire In The Darkness

The walk over to Jesse's father's study was a silent one, for neither of them quite knew what to say. Jesse didn't want to push Rachel into talking about what just happened, but he didn't want to disregard it entirely by changing the subject. Rachel on the other hand wanted to talk about it, but she knew she'd burst into tears if she did. There was yet another death on her hands now because she had insisted that they all go to visit Jesse. It wasn't that she regretted coming over here, but she just wished they didn't have to all be involved as well. First she had lost one of her friends and now her coach who had done so much for her and New Directions to succeed. He was actually gone now and she would never see him again. If they all lived to have another Glee Club rehearsal, they would never hear him say "From the top!" again. They would never get to hear their coach walk in the room with an odd assignment that wouldn't necessarily help them out towards winning their next trophy, but it typically taught them lessons and brought them together as a group.

She thought about what the rest of the team would think when she broke the news to them. They were angry enough as it was when Artie died, and it would surely get worse with the news of Mr. Schuester's demise. Even if some of them believed it was going to happen eventually because he was bitten, they would still be incredibly upset.

Jesse hated the silence and he wanted to know what was going on within her mind right now. While he had his missing family members, Rachel was actually losing friends and people dear to her right before his eyes. He expected tears to be the first thing to come from her after Mr. Schuester died and the fact that she still had yet to cry unsettled him.

"It's just inside here," he muttered, pointing to a door on his left.

Rachel only nodded and followed behind him into the room.

It was a pretty large room for one man to be using all to himself. In the center was a large glossy wooden desk that was kept in perfect order. All of the pencils were perfectly sharpened and the pens looked expensive and new. There was an Umbrella Corporation logo paper weight holding down some paperwork in the center. A drawer was open on the side and they only assumed that that's where Kristian found the gun earlier. The rest of the room was covered in book shelves and expensive looking paintings that were probably worth a fortune.

"So where is it?" Rachel asked, walking around the desk and plopping herself down in his father's chair.

"Good question," he muttered as he began his search.

Rachel peered through the desk drawers for anything of consequence, but it was all boring paperwork about pharmaceutical stuff that she didn't really understand.

Jesse searched the room for a safe, but there didn't seem to be any. Figuring that it must be hidden somewhere, he began lifting all the paintings to see if it was behind one. Right behind his desk was portrait with a map of the mansion that he mentioned before. He reached to pull it down, but it wouldn't budge. His eyebrows furrowed as he pulled at it again, but it was stuck there.

"Hmm…"

Instead of pulling it down, he pulled it out like a door and it swung open to reveal a safe.

"Bingo," he muttered under his breath as he reached for the key in his pocket.

Rachel turned in the chair so she could face Jesse and see what was so important that it was so well hidden.

"I wonder if your dad knows that your mom had a copy of the key," Rachel muttered, standing up and walking up next to him.

"Me too," he replied as he put the key in the lock and turned it.

There was a small click and the door to the safe swung forward.

Rachel stood up on her tip toes to get a better view, but there didn't really seem to be much inside aside from a passport and some money.

Jesse reached in and moved the things aside to see if there was anything else behind it. When he felt a small book at the back, he pulled it out and examined it. It was a pocket sized leather bound journal with "JSJ" printed into the cover.

"This must be it," he said, pulling it open and flipping through the pages.

He sat at the edge of the desk and continued to examine it in silence as Rachel sat back down in the chair and buried her face in her arms. She yawned and kicked off her shoes to rest for a moment.

"What time is it?" she murmured, stifling another yawn.

Jesse looked up from the journal and glanced at the old clock on the wall.

"Just a little past two," he replied, looking back at her.

The sight of her resting her eyes actually brought a small smile to his face because even in the midst of all this strife, she still managed to look absolutely adorable. He knew how drained she was after everything that they had gone through together and he didn't want to drag her onward in her state. He placed his hand over hers and rubbed his thumb against it to get her attention.

"Mmm?"

"Come on," he muttered, standing up and putting the journal in his pocket. "You need a nap and I need to read this so we're going up to my room."

"But… Lacey and Finn…" she muttered, pushing herself up and rubbing her eyes.

"After I read this. There's important stuff that might help anyway. Maybe it'll explain what the hell is going on here…"

Rachel nodded and reached out for his hand and he immediately grabbed her hand and pulled it to his lips.

"I'll only sleep for a little bit. I don't want to waste time when we can be searching," she muttered as they walked out of the study hand in hand.

Jesse let go of her hand and wrapped his arm around her waist so he could pull her closer as they walked down the hall in the direction of the corridor where all their bedrooms were. When they were there, he pulled her into the first door on the left and flipped the light switch on.

"Stay here," he whispered, pulling out his gun and stepping around the room to secure the perimeter.

His eyes swept around the room as he checked behind and under the bed as well as inside his walk in closet for any sign of the undead. Once he was sure it was safe, he motioned for her to join him and put his gun down on the bedside table.

Rachel shut the door behind her and locked it just so they could be sure that they'd be safe for as long as they were inside.

"Come here," Jesse murmured, sitting at the edge of the enormous king sized bed in the center of the room.

She stepped up to him and began undoing the buttons on her pea coat from the top as Jesse began undoing them from the bottom. Their hands bumped into each other in the middle, bringing a small smile to his lips and a slight giggle from hers.

"There we go," he whispered, pushing the coat off her shoulders and laying it over a chair by his bed. "Now, off to bed with you so you can rest."

Instead of climbing straight into bed, she kicked off her shoes and climbed into his arms, burying her face into the crook of his neck.

"This works, too," he muttered with a smirk, nuzzling his face into her hair.

"I just want to be as close to you as possible right now. After everything we've been through already…" she muttered quietly as her hands played with the curls at the base of his neck.

"I know…," he whispered, kissing the side of her head.

Rachel placed her hands on both sides of his face, rubbing her thumbs against his cheekbones as she looked up into his eyes. While there wasn't very much reason to smile on this night, she couldn't help but let it out because they could have died on multiple occasions over the past few hours and they were completely unharmed… at least physically.

"I know everything has gone so fast for us tonight, but I know deep in my heart that it's right. I just wish that I could have come to my senses sooner and we'd—"

"Hey, now… we can't live in the past, Rach. I don't want to. Especially after a few zombies almost ate us and we almost became human pancakes a little while back," he muttered, unable to contain the small smile that formed on his lips even though the thought was completely morbid.

Rachel shivered in his arms at the memories of all the incredibly terrifying events that had happened to them that night. She nodded silently and kissed his lips softly.

"I don't want to live in the past either. But we'll talk more about this after this is all over, okay?" she asked, climbing out of his arms and crawling into bed.

"You got it," he replied, kicking off his shoes and climbing in with her.

He watched as Rachel snuggled herself into one of his pillows and pulled the comforter over her body, shutting her eyes to take a nap. He allowed himself a brief moment to watch her drift away peacefully before he actually pulled his father's journal out of his pocket and flipped it open to the first page.

_This book is meant to document my journey to greatness and immortality. My research as Umbrella's head viral developer will be the thing that gets me there. There isn't a thing that matters more to me than reaching the moment. I will not allow anyone or anything to get in my way, especially now that I'm so close to creating my crowning achievement…_

Jesse felt bile rise up in his throat as he read his father's words. He was so concerned with only himself that he was willing to throw his relationship with his family aside for his work. As he thought about this, though, he felt his heart clench because all he could hear was Lacey's words from earlier that day echoing in his mind.

"_You really are starting to sound like Dad."_

Was it any different than what he had done by leaving his brother and sister to deal with their parents by themselves while he pursued his dreams? He knew it wasn't that simple, but he still couldn't help but feel terrible now.

_Katherine doesn't agree with me, of course. She thinks that what I'm working on can have cataclysmic repercussions. But she sees things too simply. She doesn't see the greater picture…_

"Jesse?" Rachel murmured, her eyes fluttering open.

He shut the journal and set it on the bedside table before turning in bed to face her. He could detect worry in her eyes and it concerned him.

"What's wrong?" he whispered, pulling her closer against his side.

"I can't sleep," she replied, letting her chin rest on his chest.

"Just why not?" he asked, grabbing the pillow she was using before to prop his head up a little higher.

"Because every time I close my eyes, I'm either replaying all of those close calls that we had or letting my imagination run wild with potential ways either of us could be killed later on. And I can't just sleep knowing that there's a chance that either of us won't make it," she explained, feeling tears start to sting her eyes at the thought. "I can't waste my time sleeping when I can be spending as much time with you as possible."

"Rach…"

"No, Jesse. I can't. I know how morbid it is to think this way, but I just can't push it to the back of my mind."

Jesse sighed and sat up in bed, pulling her up with him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist so they could hold each other as close as possible.

"I feel the same way, Rachel. It's part of why I said I was scared back there before. But I'm going to do everything I can to get you out of here. I won't let them get you."

Whimpering his name, she grabbed his face and pulled his lips to hers in an urgent kiss.

"I don't know what I'd do if I lost you," she whispered against his lips before capturing them again.

"Neither of us will lose each other," he murmured, grabbing onto her face and pulling her in closer to deepen the kiss.

Her hands slipped down from his face to his chest before settling down at the hem of his sweater.

"Jesse," she whispered, slipping her fingertips under it slightly to feel his skin. "Please…"

His eyes flickered open at the sudden change in her tone. The desperation she feeling because of their situation was mixed in with a heavy tone of desire. Was she actually asking for what he thought she was?

"Tell me what you want," he whispered as he tugged on her hair with one hand to get her to expose her neck to him enough to drop a few kisses on her pulse point.

"Make love to me," she whispered, slipping her hands further up his sweater to feel his toned abs.

Jesse pulled away from her neck to look her in the eye and see if she was serious.

"I don't think that now is the time—"

"Please, Jesse," she murmured, grabbing his face and kissing him briefly. "I know this isn't the most romantic moment but I need to feel you. I need to be one with you before whatever else is out there tries to tear us apart."

A dark chuckle left Jesse's lips as he went in for another kiss.

"You're so incredibly dramatic," he whispered, slipping one of his hands up her thigh and under her dress.

She swatted his chest and gently bit on his lower lip.

"Don't ruin the moment," she muttered, grabbing his sweater and pulling it up and off over his head.

His eyes widened at her bold move. She definitely wasn't like this when they had first dated, but he figured that time and the events that led up to this moment over the past few hours would probably have a great effect on that. There was also a chance that she had actually obtained some sexual experience with Hudson in the time that they were apart, but he didn't want to bring himself to ask about that. It wasn't his business and it didn't matter anyway. All that mattered was tonight and their future together.

"But I love your drama," he replied, grabbing her dress and pulling over her head as well.

He hooked his arm around her small waist and pulled her firmly against his body. She arched her back and let her head lean back as he dropped hot kisses along her throat and chest. He caught the fabric of her bra between her breasts in his teeth as his hands moved to undo the clasp from behind her.

"Oh, Jesse…" she whimpered, pulling herself up and looking down at him.

"It's just me and you right now," he whispered, pulling her bra off and tossing it aside.

Before she could say anything in response, his hands slipped over her breast, slowly massaging them. Her nipples grew into firm taut peaks under his light touch, feeling so good to her that she began squirming for more.

She reached one shaky hand up the back of his neck and into his curls, fisting a handful of it to tug his head closer to her chest. Her name left his lips in a low growl because of the move she just made and he fully intended on giving her what she wanted. Slipping one of his hands away, he replaced it with his mouth, flicking his tongue against one of her small nipples and sucking on it gently. He switched sides and dragged his teeth against the other, gently nibbling on it as he kept his eyes on her face to witness every reaction she gave him.

How some simple love and attention to her breasts can already send Rachel into sensory overload, she didn't know. She had been intimate with Finn once before, but the entire short experience wasn't anywhere near this good and they were only beginning. Finn's clumsy attempts to grope at her chest didn't feel pleasurable at all, but Jesse's expert hands were sending pure hot desire for him through her body. Every touch, every kiss, every loving word he murmured for only her to hear reawakened her spirit and sent all of those fears and worries about life and death far away from her. That was definitely something that Finn could never do even if he tried. As Jesse grabbed her hips and pulled her against his arousal, she gasped and whimpered his name once more. It was enough to bring her back to reality and knock any lingering thoughts of her unimpressive first time out of her mind for good.

"Should've always been you," she whispered, pulling his lips back to hers.

"Took you long enough," he whispered against her lips with a smirk.

She swatted his chest again and pushed him back down onto the bed. He tried to reach out for her and drag her down with him, but she quickly pulled away and stood up on the bed so that she actually towered over him. He licked his lips at the sight of her half naked body so close yet so far away from him, wanting to just pull her down with him and rip the rest of her clothes off. Rachel seemed to be one step ahead of him, though, as she slipped her fingers under her panties and pushed them down, kicking them aside once they were off. She bent down to remove her knee highs, but Jesse tried to grab her and she had to quickly step back away from him so he couldn't.

"You're wearing too much clothes," she observed, running her foot lightly along his arousal that was incredibly obvious through his pants.

"_Rachel Berry_," he muttered, shaking his head at her boldness.

He quickly unbuckled his belt and worked at removing his jeans, kicking them off to the floor along with his socks. His boxers were the last to go, leaving them both completely bare with each other. Just as she had stepped one leg over him, he grabbed her thighs and pulled her forward, causing her to waver slightly as she tried to keep her balance.

"Over here," he instructed her, pulling her hips down so she could straddle his face.

"Jesse… what-_Oh!"_ she squeaked when she felt his tongue begin to work oh so perfectly against her womanhood.

His hands latched onto her hips to pull her down closer as one of hers ran through his hair and tugged to get him to give her more. Nothing had ever felt this amazing before and she needed more of it. She looked down and watched as he licked and sucked on her hungrily as though he had never tasted anything so amazing in his life. Biting her lip, she grabbed one of his hands and moved it up to her chest as she continued to grind her hips slightly against his face. With one hand still tugging at his hair, she leaned back and slipped her other hand down his body until she reached his hardened length.

Although she wasn't that experienced with pleasing a man with her hands, she still wanted to give Jesse a little something while he continued to send her even deeper into sensory overload. The position she was in didn't allow her to see what she was doing, but she still went for it. Grabbing his length in her small hand, she began pumping it with light strokes as she continued to ride his face. He groaned and pushed his hips up off the bed to thrust into her hand and make it feel even more amazing for him.

It had reached a point where they had enough of foreplay and needed to feel even closer to each other. With the chaos around them, it was absolutely necessary right now for them to become one so they could help hold each other together and face anything else that will surely get thrown at them.

Because they were both so naturally in tune with each other, they stopped their ministrations at the same time. Rachel let go of his length and eased herself off of Jesse so she could kneel right next to him. He sat up and slipped his hand into her long hair to pull her lips fiercely against his. In the midst of the kiss, he grabbed her hip and pulled her down onto the bed, moving with her so as not to break it. Both of his hands travelled down her body, pushing her legs apart for him to settle in between. He grabbed her knee highs and pulled them off her legs, tossing them somewhere off the bed with the rest of their clothes. His hands then continued their journey back up, tracing light lines against her arms before grabbing them and pinning them up over her head. Lacing his fingers with both of her hands, he held them tightly and pressed his forehead to hers so he could look her in the eyes as he pushed into her for the first time.

Rachel squeezed his hands as he thrust into her, moaning his name in one shaky breath. She began rolling her hips up towards his to increase the depth and make it even more incredibly pleasurable if it was even possible.

"Oh, Jesse…_ please_," she whimpered pleadingly against his lips.

Without letting go of her hands, he lowered them down from over her head. He let them rest over his shoulders like he knew she wanted and then let them go. She quickly slipped one of her hands up into his hair as she dug her nails from the other into his shoulder.

With his hands now free, he grabbed one of her hips and pulled her leg up to hook it around his hip, allowing him to thrust into her more deeply and make it feel so much more amazing for the both of them.

"It'll always be you," she whispered in between her moans, moving both of her hands to touch his cheeks.

He kissed one of her hands lovingly in response before moving his lips up to her ear.

"Forever and always," he managed to whisper, letting out a low moan against her ear afterwards.

Holding onto her hip with one hand, he quickened the speed of his thrusts, making sure to hit that spot within her that would make her surely unravel even more intensely than she normally would. As her moans grew louder, he felt grateful for the fact that his parents had made his room sound proof because of all the singing and music he had played over the past few years. It allowed them to be perfectly contained in their own private bubble of bliss without worrying about anyone or anything hearing.

"Don't let go," she whimpered, feeling herself grow emotional over the fact that she and Jesse were truly melting together in their love making.

"Never," he whispered, nuzzling her neck and kissing her jaw.

It was probably so wrong for them to be engaging in such an intimate act when people they knew and cared about were missing, especially seeing as they had witnessed so much death and danger already leading up to it. But it still felt so right at the same time, too. Engaging in the most intimate and erotic moment of their lives was providing them with an even stronger and unbreakable bond that nothing could ever get in between. Even more important, they were both engaging in an absolutely beautiful experience that kindled a fire within the darkness around them. As their love making grew more and more intense, the fire only grew larger and stronger, filling them both with so much more love and passion for each other.

"Love you so much. I'd do anything…" he whispered, unable to finish his words because of the pleasure overcoming him.

"Anything… _for you_," she finished for him, digging her nails into his back again as the feeling grew more and more intense.

A few more thrusts had Rachel coming completely undone, calling out his name as she clung to him for dear life. He could feel her walls clenching over him as he pushed into her once more and that sent him completely over the edge and moaning her name as well.

He pulled of her and rolled over next to her, holding his arms open for her to snuggle into his side. Closing his eyes as he tried to catch his breath, he did everything he could to keep the sense of worry over what could happen over the next few hours far away from him.

Hearing her sniffle beside him, he opened his eyes and looked down at her curiously.

"Hey…what's wrong?" he whispered, touching her face that was now dampened with a light trace of sweat.

She pushed herself up and straddled his hips, grabbing onto his shoulders so she could pull him up into a sitting position with her. Before she said anything, she kissed his lips softly and let her forehead rest against his.

"Just scared," she whispered. "About losing any more friends… about losing you…"

"Rachel…" he sighed, shaking his head and kissing her nose. "We'll do our best to make sure nobody else gets hurt, but there's only so much we can do with so many people. Quite a lot of your friends are smart and will take care of each other."

She nodded silently and sighed.

"As for us," he continued. "We're getting through this together. I don't know if you've noticed, but we've formed quite an amazing little team together having each other's backs. With two headstrong people like us who would do anything for each other, we're unstoppable."

"You think so?" she asked, smiling weakly.

He nodded and pecked her lips.

"You just have to be strong," he whispered softly.

"I don't know if I can anymore…" she replied, her shoulders slumping sadly.

"You have to, Rach. I need you to be strong and get through this. Do it for me," he encouraged her, cupping her cheeks and making her look him in the eye.

"I'll do it if you promise me something," she whispered, looking up at him slowly. "Promise me that we'll both get out of here together."

He paused for a moment and noticed the fear that was so perfectly clear in her eyes.

"I'll do you one better," he muttered, giving her a small smile. "After I get everything sorted out with my family and your friends are safe back home, I'm taking you to New York with me. Nothing like a little Broadway therapy and passionate lovemaking in the city to recover from this madness, right?"

She managed a small laugh and a nod.

"Right."

"Good. Now try and get some rest while I actually try and read this book," he muttered, grabbing the journal and flipping it back open.

"Kay," she replied, leaning in for one last kiss before moving off his lap and burying herself under the quilt. "Love you…"

He smiled and kissed the top of her head.

"More than you know..."


	9. The Journal of Jensen St James

Jesse lay in bed with the covers drawn over him and Rachel and with his father's journal in his hand. He knew he had to get back to reading it as soon as possible, but it was far too tempting to get lost watching Rachel sleeping so peacefully. Everything had gone by so fast over the last few hours, and he couldn't believe that she was actually there right now lying naked in his bed after they just made love. As he really thought about it, everything that happened over the past few hours didn't seem real. From the zombies to the fact that Rachel had actually changed her mind and wanted to be with him—it was all so unbelievable.

But it was real.

The proof was right in front of him breathing so lightly in her slumber. It would be a crime to have to wake her up later to continue their mission and disturb her peace. He exhaled a small sigh as he pushed a few strands of her hair behind her ear and kissed her forehead, knowing that he'd let her get all the rest she wanted after he got her out of here later.

Leaning back against the headboard of the bed, he looked back at the book in his hand and continued to read.

_September 1991_

_I'm getting closer and closer to creating what is bound to be one of the greatest advancements in Umbrella history. Extra hours at the laboratory are imperative right now. Luckily for us, we've been trusted by corporate to be positioned in mansion above the Ohio laboratories so work is never far. It gives the public a view of a wealthy family's home, but deep down there is far more that we have been trusted to keep them away from. Umbrella has installed every safety measure possible to keep unwanted people away from the labs, but things have grown more difficult now that Katherine and I have had our first child. With the birth of our son, Jesse, Katherine has seemed to grow soft. It doesn't matter, though, because I can do this without her._

_Still, Jesse is a fine baby and I expect he will grow up to do great things—Just like his father. _

Jesse looked around his room slowly. No wonder this place seemed to be so creepy and was always off limits to him and his siblings. Somewhere around the mansion was an entrance to the laboratories where their parents spent most of their time working.

"_Maybe that's where Lacey and Finn are…_" he thought to himself.

He was also surprisingly disgusted by reading his father speaking of having high hopes for him. His father was already not someone he generally thought of as a decent person, but everything that he was learning about him now was making it even worse. He didn't want his pride at all.

_October 1993_

_Katherine has given birth again. However, this time to twins. The pregnancy wasn't planned but I'm sure it's nothing our staff of nannies cannot handle. _

"Of course," Jesse muttered under his breath.

His father was never particularly warm towards Lacey and Kristian. So his words came as no surprise to him at all.

_June 1995_

_I'm absolutely outraged. There was an accident in the lab this afternoon, causing the death of three interns and six researchers. I was finally getting to start work on my new creation and it backfired. Even worse, Umbrella has cut my research grant and slapped me with even more restrictions in the main lab. I have to prove them wrong, but without the ability to test in the labs like I want to... it will be extremely difficult. _

_January 1999_

_Katherine and I have started telling the children that we're on vacation all over the world during our extended research trips. I've also started building a private lab behind my study to do my research that corporate doesn't approve of. Once they see what I create, though, they'll come crawling back to me. _

Gritting his teeth, Jesse shook his head and fought the urge to throw the book across the room. The least they could have done was be honest that they were working instead of making up lies about spontaneous vacations around the world.

"Bastard," he muttered as he flipped a few pages.

_June 2001_

_The limits put on me by Umbrella have forced me to test on house staff members. There is nothing that they wouldn't do for an extra paycheck. Most of them don't have families to talk them out of it, so it's perfect. Over the course of the last year, I've lost a few of them and had to hire some interns to dispose of the bodies. _

_Just this afternoon I lost my latest subject, Abigail Andrews. She was one of Lacey's nannies going through a rough time and needing the extra money I offered. She responded poorly to my latest sample and was gone within a few hours of administering it. Well, at least her hard times are over now…_

Jesse stared at the book with eyes wide with horror. He always knew that his father was a terrible man, but he never thought that he'd go as far as testing on innocent employees of the house. Was his great research really all that worth it? Was it worth their death?

This matter had quickly grown even more serious now that people's lives were involved. Knowing that his own father was capable of allowing people to die for the sake of his research sickened him. It was like he was getting to know the man for who he really was now and he didn't like any of it.

_December 2001_

_Katherine caught on to my "underground" testing in my private laboratories and demanded I put a stop to it. Try as she might, she'll never get me to stop when I'm this close. I've been testing out different strains of a new virus that when administered in controlled doses, has the ability to reanimate dead cells and actually go deep into the cell and alter the DNA. Most of my samples have resulted in unfavorable side effects, such as decreased brain function, animalistic behavior, and eventually death. There must be something I'm not getting right, but I don't intend on giving up so soon. _

Jesse was starting to feel his blood run cold as he read further and further. The things his father was trying to create didn't sound in any way good. How could he allow people to die multiple times for this research? What the hell was he thinking?

He rolled his eyes and shook his head. If only Lacey and Kristian knew the truth, they'd never say that he was just like their father. His father was absolute scum that should probably be locked up for all the lives lost for the sake of his science.

The next entries made Jesse's heart drop in his chest completely.

_March 2002_

_While mixing two different strands of the virus today, Katherine broke a beaker and caused a contamination alarm to go off. She was exposed to the new virus and quarantined until extensive testing was done. I was put in charge of the project and will do everything in my power to make her alright again. _

_April 2002_

_I managed to control the virus with a new sample I've been working on. It's kept it from spreading and taking her over but there will never be a cure. She can go on with life normally and continue her own research as long as she stays under my care. Now that Katherine is exposed, though, I can freely test on her in my private labs to see if I can take this to the next level. If I can discover the missing step in this experiment, I could make her stronger and impervious to death. _

_Immortality is so close I can taste it. _

Jesse's hands were now shaking. He quickly slammed the book shut and tossed it aside. Was this what his mother wanted him to find out? These were all the dark secrets she had hidden from him?

Right now, he was glad that his father was missing—if that was even true, because he had a feeling he'd kill him on sight with what he knows now. His own stupid quest for immortality could have cost him his mother and he didn't really seem to care. All he saw was an opportunity to advance his research.

"_She's his wife! She has kids! What about her? What about us?"_ he thought to himself, trying hard not to toss his lamp against the wall and wake Rachel.

He looked back at the book and knew he had to continue. If there was any more crucial information, he had to find out so that he was prepared if he ever had to confront his father. The book was probably proof enough to get him tossed in jail seeing as it obtained a full confession of all of his illegal research.

So he grabbed the book and opened it to the next section.

_May 2007_

_Thanks to my research on Katherine, I've developed a new and much stronger virus that I have named the T-Virus. It actually displays very interesting symptoms, causing severe mutation when administered in controlled doses to a living being. They can turn into literal biological weapons. Its absolute genius on my part, because think of where this can take me! How many countries would kill to have bio weapons like this? Why waste time and money on training an army when you can unleash the ultimate bio weapon? It's absolutely revolutionary and will change the world forever!_

_There is an interesting side effect to it when the dose isn't controlled, though. When it is simply administered and the test subject dies, they don't manage to stay dead for long. Their body continues to decompose, but they continue to walk and try and fulfill the most basic need to feed. Think of what the country could do with an undead army to fight our wars? They feel no pain or emotion, only running on the need to consume living flesh until the entire population they are released upon is wiped out. _

_I'm presenting my research to corporate tomorrow because I know that they will definitely support it when they see what it can do. It won't be long now until my salary is tripled and I am given unlimited access to everything I need to continue my research. _

This explained everything.

His own father had actually developed the virus that caused all of those zombies to pop up throughout the house. The infection had somehow spread and gotten to the dogs and house staff, making them all have a constant hunger for flesh.

If he thought he was angry before, it had nothing on him now. It was one thing to kill the staff of cooks and nannies that helped raise him, but now Rachel was losing people she cared about because of his father's sick viral research.

Even worse, he was actually planning on creating weapons that would likely destroy populations if it ever got out. Didn't he realize that the virus spreads through bites? How could he even try to send out these "bio weapons" without causing an apocalypse?

Jesse truly didn't want to read any further, but he knew he had to… especially when he saw his brother and sister's name in the beginning of the next entry.

_February 2008_

_Lacey and Kristian are two of the most meddlesome children I have had the misfortune to create. How many times am I going to tell them to stop exploring areas of the house where they don't belong? Just yesterday, they were both was within inches of death at the gas room. If I hadn't been in my private lab and noticed it on the surveillance camera to manually override the gas room's systems, they would have both been dead. _

_I'm starting to think that it wouldn't be so much of a loss, anyway. _

_At least Jesse stays away with all of his rehearsals and trips to Lima to see my brother. But these two are such a nuisance. _

_To make matters worse, Lacey stumbled upon me and Katherine in my private lab today. I was running a full range of tests on Katherine and left the hidden door open. The sight of her mother unconscious in bed with all the tubes hooked up to her must have scared her because she was incredibly upset. _

_I spoke to her and explained that Katherine was sick and that I was doing all that was necessary to keep her alive. Still, it was a lot for a fourteen year old girl to handle. I made her swear to never tell a soul because the work I was doing wasn't legal yet, but was still responsible for keeping her alive. I doubt she'll tell anyone now that she thinks that her mother could die if anyone else tried to get involved. I told her that it was her responsibility to make sure that no one ever stumbled upon what I was doing if she wanted her to live. That should take care of her curiosity and any unwanted guests now. _

_Now that I think about it, though, the virus within Katherine could have an interesting effect when administered to someone of similar DNA… _

His heart was pounding and his blood pressure rising. His initial confusion over what the hell the gas room was had been completely knocked out of his mind when he read on about just how little his father cared about his other children. To make things even more horrific, he had put poor Lacey in such a terrible position by forcing her to keep quiet about what she had seen.

No wonder she was always so on edge about having guests over at the house.

It all made so much sense now.

He glanced back down at the book and re-read the last sentence.

"…_the virus within Katherine could have an interesting effect when administered to someone of similar DNA…"_

"_He' couldn't mean…" _he thought to himself, shaking his head.

He flipped through the next few pages, scanning through the details of his research quickly. There were even more mentions of his experiments on Lacey.

_March 2008_

_She wasn't willing at first, but I've gotten her to come around. I've made her believe that her DNA could help save Katherine if she let me test on her. I have a feeling as though I'm on the verge of another break through with Lacey now… _

_August 2010_

_We almost lost Lacey today. She is growing weaker and weaker when she should be growing stronger. I'm so close to getting it right, though, and I won't back down yet. The only problem is Kristian. He's onto me, but he'll never find out. If he does, I'll only have another test subject to work on anyway. _

His hands were shaking even more now.

The next few entries continued to go into great detail about the tests and it made him sick to his stomach. His little sister was forced to endure all of it after being misled into thinking that it would help their mother.

The final entry was dated only a few weeks ago…

_December 2011_

_Umbrella wanted to take my precious T-Virus from me and hoard it for themselves to run their own experiments without me. Little did they know that I was already making offers to various governmental organizations around the world that are guaranteed to offer me so much more for my ingenious creation. I'm so much bigger than this corporation and soon enough I'll be the head of my own. _

_They tried to threaten me, but they don't know what I'm capable of._

_They'll see soon enough. _

_Perhaps the virus can just… slip into the lab's water supply? When all of their researchers are wiped out, they'll come crawling back to me. But by then, I'll be the leader of an even bigger super power that will shadow over Umbrella. _

_Until then, I'm taking Katherine to a closed off sector of the laboratory to continue my work while I wait for everyone in the main labs to waste away. The world will think that we disappeared, but it doesn't really matter._

_Nothing but the virus really matters. _

On the inside of the back cover was a few quickly scrawled words.

_Behind the white family photo album in my study._

Now that he knew the truth about how urgent this really was, there was no time to waste. He and Rachel had to get a move on if they wanted to get them and the people they cared about out here alive.

"Rachel…Rachel, wake up," he said quickly, nudging her shoulder urgently.

"Five more minutes…" she muttered, pulling the quilt over her head to block out the light from the lamp.

"Rach, we have to go. _Now."_

She poked her head out from under the quilt and saw the dead serious look on his face.

"What happened?" she asked nervously as she sat up and threw the quilt off of her.

"There's no time. Just get dressed quickly because we need to go back to my father's study right now," he said rapidly.

He practically sprang off the bed and grabbed his boxers to get dressed as fast as he could.

"Jesse-"

"We have to go now!" he shouted, grabbing her dress and throwing it in her direction.

Rachel stayed sitting in bed with a look of fear and deep concern etched into her face.

"You're scaring me," she whispered. "What's shaken you like this? Please tell me."

He shook his head and pulled up his jeans before reaching for his sweater.

"It's all his fault. That fucking son of a bitch…" he growled.

He bent down and grabbed her knee highs from the floor to help her gather the rest of her clothes so she could get dressed faster.

"Who? Kristian?" she asked as she quickly threw on her undergarments.

"No. Kris is a saint in comparison," Jesse muttered. "It's my dad. He created the damn virus that's responsible for killing the house staff, Artie, Schuester …and hell knows who else."

Rachel pulled her dress back on and froze at his words.

"What?" she gasped, turning to look at him with her mouth open in shock. "How?"

"He was trying to make a biological weapon and it got out. What's even worse is that he tests on my mother and…" He shook his head and looked away. "… and Lacey."

Saying it out loud only doubled his rage. He reached for the lamp on his bedside table and flung it against the wall, watching it shatter to pieces in front of his eyes.

"Jesse…" Rachel whispered, pushing herself up off the bed and placing a hand to his back.

"This all happened when I wasn't around. He was treating them like lab rats and they could've…"

He couldn't get the last word out. Saying that they could have died out loud would have put him into an even deeper state of panic because he didn't want to think about what would happen if he lost them. Instead of finishing his sentence, he kicked the nearest drawer.

"Jesse, please calm down," Rachel begged him, trying to grab his arm and make him face her but he was still raging.

"I can't calm down! Not when my mother is with him and Lacey could be too. Not when he's out there making more viruses that'll be responsible for even more death!"

Rachel didn't like seeing Jesse so upset. In all the time that she knew him, she didn't think that she had ever seen him this angry before. She couldn't blame him, though. If she had found out this kind of dark secret about her own family, she'd be just as distraught.

"I'm so sorry, Jesse," she murmured, grabbing his hands and squeezing them gently. It was all she could really say after hearing so much terrible news. "What do you want us to do to make this right?"

He shook his head and looked down.

"I don't know if we can do anything to make it right. But I know that I'm going to do everything in my power to take him down. I won't let him hurt any more people I care about," he said seriously, his voice full of determination.

He touched her cheek softly and looked down in her eyes with so much worry. If he was concerned about her safety before, it had increased tenfold now.

"How are you going to do that?" she asked, leaning her face into his hand slightly.

"Going into his lab and getting enough proof to expose him. Then we can report him and have him thrown into jail the second he's found. That man is dangerously insane and he's likely to kill everyone in the state… maybe even farther than that with the way he's going."

She nodded silently and moved to go sit on the bed so she could get her shoes on.

"Well I'm on your side through all of this and I'll do everything I can to help," she assured him.

He looked over at her for a second with even more worry in his eyes.

"I wish I could just get you out of here and do this myself," he said quietly, looking down and shaking his head. "I don't want to risk losing you. I'm already losing everything and I can't lose the person who's most important to me. _I can't_."

Rachel stood up and walked back over to him, reaching out to touch his face with both hands.

"Jesse—"

"No—"

"Jesse, look at me!" she said sternly, grabbing his face and making him look down at hers. "Remember what you said before? We're a team. We're getting through this together. Now get a hold of yourself and let's find him and kick his ass!"

Jesse raised an eyebrow quickly at Rachel's language. He appreciated how she was so fired up about it, though. It definitely helped him boost his morale enough for him to hold himself together and get through what he had to do.

Instead of giving her a straight response, he reached for her, pulling her against his chest for a fierce and intense kiss that displayed all the love he was feeling for her right now.

"God, I love you," he whispered as he pulled away and looked down at her with a half smile.

"The feeling is definitely mutual," she assured him, turning around to grab her coat off the chair next to his bed.

They both finished putting on the last of their clothes before quickly setting back out for his father's study. On their way, Jesse hoped that he could run into Kristian and explain all this so he could hopefully get him to forget about their issues with each other for a moment to team up against their father. He could use all the help he could get right now. But he was nowhere to be seen.

"You mentioned before that you thought your father might have Lacey. Why do you think that?" Rachel asked as they walked down the next hall.

"Just a feeling," he muttered, scanning the area for any of the undead. "He convinced her that my mom could die if she allowed other people who could find out about it and get the government involved into the mansion. That's why she freaked out about you all being here. Now that I know that my dad isn't really missing, I think he might have found them and done something. If he ran into her with Finn, well… that proves to him that she failed at what she was supposed to do…"

Rachel bit her lip and thought about Jesse's theory. She hated to think of the possibility of Finn being so close to someone so dangerous.

"Why would he want to take them, though?" she asked, wringing her hands together with worry. "What would be the point?"

Jesse shook his head and shrugged.

"Maybe they saw too much…"

"Well what if he found the rest of New Directions and took them, too?" she asked quickly, growing more and more hysterical by the second.

"Let's hope that isn't the case."

He pushed the next door open and they were quickly met by another zombie standing right by the door.

Rachel's eyes scanned it quickly, hoping that it wasn't anyone that they knew. She was relieved to see that it was just another one of the employees working for Jesse's father.

Without hesitation, Jesse raised his gun and smacked it aside with the barrel, knocking it into the nearby wall. Before it could turn back and lunge at him, he quickly aimed for it's head and pulled the trigger.

The sight of the brain matter that splattered against the wall made Rachel cringe and turn away.

"I don't think I'll ever get used to that," she muttered, pinching her nose to block out the smell of decay from the body at their feet.

"Tell me about it," he replied, reaching for her hand and pulling her back down the hall towards his father's study.

He pulled her inside and shut the door behind them before going towards the book shelf for what he was looking for.

"I don't understand… what are we doing in here?" she asked, running her finger over the frame of a picture of a younger Jesse on his father's wall.

"He has a secret lab where he does his dirty work. The bastard is either in there or a hell of a lot of incriminating evidence is. The secret entrance is somewhere in here…"

He pulled out his father's journal and flipped it to the back for those words on the inside cover. Nodding to himself, he scanned the book case for the white photo album and pulled it out. Rachel took it from him and began flipping through to see if anything important that they might need could be hidden within the pages. All she found, though, was a ton of pictures of Jesse's younger years. Biting her lip, she looked up at him to make sure that he had his back turned when she quickly stuffed the photo album into her purse. His father didn't deserve to hold onto these precious photos, anyway.

Jesse reached into the gap left by the missing photo album and felt a small button against the back of the shelf.

"I think this is it…" he muttered, pushing the button and hearing a click from across the room.

A part of the wall behind his father's desk moved forward to reveal a hidden door.

"There!" Rachel pointed.

Jesse quickly turned around towards where Rachel was pointing, half expecting his father to come barging out on them for discovering his secret place if he really was in there. He gripped his gun tightly and took a breath, waiting another moment to see if anything happened. When nothing did, he grabbed Rachel's hand and nodded.

"Let's go."

Just as he had reached for the edge of the wall to pull it open, the sound of the door to the study opening rang out behind them.

"Who's there?" he asked quickly, spinning on his feet and raising his gun immediately at the person standing in the doorway.


	10. Caught On Camera

"Woah, woah! Be careful with that thing!" Kristian shouted, holding his hands up in the air.

Hands still shaking, Jesse lowered his weapon and sighed.

"I just thought you were…never mind," he said, shaking his head. "What are you doing here anyway?"

"Looking for more ammo. Anyway, what happened to what you said about making sure we were among the living before aiming a gun?" Kristian snapped, waving his own gun in the air slightly.

"Yeah, yeah," Jesse muttered, turning back to the newly revealed door. "While I'd love to continue arguing with the person who tried to kill me and Rachel, there are more important things for us to do right now."

Kristian looked down at the ground at Jesse's words, nodding silently to himself. Noticing Jesse was preoccupied with something, he took a few steps forward to see what he was looking at. When he noticed the door, his eyes widened.

"Where the hell did that come from?"

Jesse gave Kristian a quick look before turning back to the door, running his fingertips along the edge and pulling it wide open.

"It leads to your father's hidden lab," Rachel explained to Kristian quietly.

Kristian watched as Jesse and Rachel stepped inside with a slightly raised brow.

"What are you doing?" he asked in clear annoyance.

"Seeing what the bastard is hiding inside," Jesse muttered, lifting his gun and motioning for his brother to follow.

"Yeah, but if this place was hidden then there's no way Lacey can be in here. You're wasting time exploring when we need to be out there looking for her!" said Kristian loudly.

"Jesse…" Rachel muttered, placing her hand over his arm. "Tell him."

"Tell me what?" Kristian asked as Jesse and Rachel exchanged looks.

"Did you know?" Jesse asked as he turned back to walk down the hall to the lab.

"Know what? What the hell is going on here?" asked Kristian, his patience wearing thin.

"Did you know about Dad and Lacey?" Jesse asked through gritted teeth, feeling the urge to grab the nearest inanimate object and throw it against the wall at the mere thought of what he had just discovered.

Kristian's face grew stone cold.

"Of course I knew. Why the hell do you think I was so pissed off at you for not being here to help stop it?"

Jesse stopped at a small staircase that led down to what he assumed was the laboratory and turned back to Kristian.

"Why didn't you tell me he was testing on her? You could have called! You could have reported him! We could have—"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Kristian snapped, charging forward and stopping just an inch away from Jesse.

"Okay… let's keep this civil," Rachel muttered, placing a hand on both of the brother's shoulders.

Kristian tore his arm away from Rachel and Jesse quickly grabbed it, giving him a warning look.

"Watch it," he muttered, looking from Kristian to Rachel for a second. "She's just trying to keep the peace."

"Will you just shut up and tell me what you're talking about, then? What do you mean he was testing on her?" Krisitan growled.

"It's all in here," Jesse explained, grabbing the journal from his pocket and showing it to Kristian. "That son of a bitch created the virus that's turning people around here into zombies and Lacey caught him testing on Mom. He pretty much conned her into being his latest test subject and he's been using her as his lab rat for years now."

Just explaining it made Jesse feel completely sick to his stomach. The fact that he was related to such a cruel and heartless monster made him feel tainted with his bad blood that was coursing through his veins. While he never had a good relationship with his father, he had never before reached this kind of level of disgust for having his father's last name attached to him. It was as though no matter where he went, Jensen St. James would forever be stuck to him. The thought alone only made him hate the man even more.

As Jesse explained it, though, Kristian didn't seem to buy it at first. He simply gave Jesse a glare of disbelief and shook his head. But as he continued to go into detail about how it all happened, his stone cold glare faded to a softer, more vulnerable look of worry. Just the,n he looked like the scared and shaken boy he was when he was asking Jesse for help after trying to kill him. His own version of a show face had fallen to the ground and shattered for good.

"Is… Is this true?" Kristian whispered, looking over at Rachel with a pleading look. He was grasping at thin air because he knew Jesse wasn't lying, but he didn't want to believe. "Tell me he's lying."

"I'm sorry," Rachel whispered, placing her hand back on Kristian's shoulder. "We think that your father might have Lacey now…"

Kristian's face fell further as he was forced to accept the reality of what had been happening this entire time.

"Why didn't she tell me?" he asked, more to himself than to anyone else.

"We can waste time exchanging theories or we can actually find her and you can ask for yourself," Jesse said seriously.

"Dad's missing… how could he—"

"Just walk with us and I'll explain on the way."

Jesse didn't like having to be civil with his brother after his insane murder attempt, but he knew that his chances of getting through this alive and finding Lacey would be stronger if he had his brother on his side. So, he explained every detail that he felt was important for him to know while trying not to allow himself to grow enraged all over again.

Kristian didn't take any of the news well because he seemed to grow even angrier and more worried with each word that left Jesse's lips.

When they reached the bottom of the staircase that led to the lab, Jesse gripped the doorknob and turned back to Kristian.

"Just one question…" Jesse said slowly. "What did you think was going on? The thing you were so mad at me for not being around for?"

Kristian looked away and crossed his arms.

"I thought Dad was hitting her…" he whispered. "I thought he was… abusing her. She looked so weak and had bruises sometimes that she tried to hide and I figured…"

"I see…"

"Jesse… Kristian…" Rachel began, looking between the two brothers nervously. "You two need to put your issues aside for now so we can work together. I don't like it after what you did, Kristian, but we need to trust each other if we want to do what we have to do…"

Jesse and Kristian both ran their hands through their hair at the same time as though they were looking in a mirror. The sight amused Rachel because their behavior showed how related they really were.

Jesse cleared his throat and took a step towards his brother.

"I'm not saying that I'm ready to forget about what you tried to do to me and Rachel back there, but I know that now isn't the time to hold a grudge. So I'm willing to put it aside from now if you're willing to work together with us to find Lacey—"

"And Finn," Rachel muttered awkwardly, giving Jesse an apologetic look.

"….And Finn," he added reluctantly.

Kristian looked between Jesse and Rachel and nodded, holding out his hand to Jesse.

Jesse eyed it for a second before grabbing it and shaking it in agreement.

"Alright, then. Let's go."

That said, Jesse turned around and pulled the door open, revealing a vast and cold looking room that sent a chill down their spine because they knew about the horrible things that had probably been done in here over the years. The lab was complete with every piece of equipment necessary for Jensen to run his tests. There were machines lined up against the walls that probably cost a fortune. Testing tables were along the center of the room complete with every kind of tool imaginable. Beakers and test tubes stood in their holders, just waiting to be used in another one of Jensen's sick experiments. One wall on the far right was completely filled with television screens which Jesse assumed was connected to surveillance cameras like his father mentioned in his journal. On the other wall was a hospital bed that seemed to have recently been disturbed.

"Doesn't look like he's here…" Kristian muttered as he looked around.

Rachel walked around the room to take a closer look for anything that might be helpful. She kept her hands in her pockets because she was afraid that there might be some trace of a virus along the counters and test equipment.

"Be careful what you touch, Jess," she muttered, watching him reach out for a used needle next to the hospital bed. "Just… be careful."

He nodded and withdrew his hand.

"What are these?" Kristian asked, pointing to an elaborate collection of maps along the walls above the machinery.

Jesse examined the maps curiously. Some were more maps of the mansion, listing the locations of all the rooms with traps and rooms with supplies.

"There's a weapons room," Jesse observed, pointing to it on one of the maps. "We should stop by before we go any further. Just in case."

His eyes moved over to the other maps that were definitely not inside the mansion. They had multiple levels with different sectors, some labeled with "Top Secret" or "Biohazard Area".

"It's the main laboratory. This is where we have to go!" Jesse said, taking a few steps closer to look for an entrance.

"Jesse!" Rachel called out from across the room.

She had just stumbled upon a filing cabinet in the corner next to the wall of television screens. She bent down and ran her fingers over the card attached to it that read: _Test Subject: Lacey_.

Jesse and Kristian hurried over to Rachel to see what she had discovered. Jesse pulled the cabinet open and found folders upon folders of carefully filed paperwork on all the tests he had run on his sister. As he flipped through it, he saw more information on the viruses he injected into her as well as pictures of a frail and unconscious Lacey in the hospital bed in the corner.

His hands began shaking again at the visual evidence of the disgusting work his father had been doing to his sister. Without a word, he handed it to Kristian and continued looking through the cabinet for any more evidence.

"He is so gonna pay," Kristian muttered quietly as he stuffed the picture in his pocket.

"We'll lead the police here. They'll take care of it," said Rachel in an attempt to keep Kristian calm.

Jesse's eyes moved to the filing cabinets next to the one for Lacey. There was one for their mother, Katherine, as well as a few for all the other random test subject he had experimented on over the years. He took a minute to go through some of them, pulling out pictures of their dead bodies, some turned into zombies and strapped down to a test table for experimentation.

Rachel peered over his shoulder and gasped at the sight of the pictures. She quickly grabbed them from him and pushed them back into the cabinet, slamming it shut.

"You've seen enough," she said quietly, reaching for his arm and pulling him up to his feet. "The more you see, the angrier you'll get, and the less you'll be able to think straight. Let's just keep moving…"

He couldn't even bring himself to protest, looking down and nodding.

Just as he was about to suggest that they head out, he noticed a flashing red light on a few of the TV screens. He reached out for the buttons under all of the screens and turned them all on one by one. One of them revealed the small room where he and Rachel almost got crushed alive while another revealed a room filled with statues and suits of armor. It was random, but he knew that there must be some trap in that room that required it to be watched over. Some viewed hallways and he could see Mike and Tina walking together hand in hand down the path. On another, Puck had just knocked a zombie down with a chair before running off the view of the camera with the rest of the group.

At the sight of them alive and well, Rachel sighed with relief. She walked along the wall of screens for any sign of the rest of her friends while Jesse and Kristian examined the screens with the flashing red lights.

He hit the rewind button on one of them and watched as the recorded footage zipped backwards. In the blur of the images on the screen, he saw a glimpse of Lacey and Finn from earlier tonight in a hallway in the midst of a commotion with her father. Feeling panic rise within him, he waited a moment for it to go back to just before it happened before stopping it and pressing play.

"_Who's that?" Finn asked, trying to step in front of Lacey to protect her. _

"It's Finn!" Rachel gasped, stepping towards them to get a closer look.

Jesse nodded and kept his eyes on the screen to see what happened next.

"_I'm her father and you shouldn't be here," said Jensen, stepping into the view of the camera. _

"_I thought you and mom were missing…" Lacey muttered, taking a step back. _

_Even though his back was to the camera, they could all see the traces of blood splattered all over his now tattered white lab coat. _

"_Why are you covered in blood?" Finn asked nervously. _

"_How many people did you let in?" Jensen asked, ignoring Finn. _

"_There's a whole group. They know Jesse and—"_

"_Big mistake, Lacey," Jensen said, reaching into his jacket for something. "Now come with me back to the lab and there won't be any more problems. Both of you."_

"_Let's get out of here," Finn muttered to Lacey, grabbing her arm and tugging her back towards the door. _

"_Not so fast," said Jensen, pulling out a gun and aiming it at Finn's chest. _

"_Woah, where'd you get a gun?" said Finn, holding his hands up in the air, one still holding a first aid kit. _

"_Dad…" Lacey started, reaching for something behind her back. _

"_Come with me and nobody has to get hurt," Jensen ordered. _

_Finn nodded and stepped past Jensen while still keeping his eyes on Lacey._

"_Leave that here. You won't need it," said Jensen to Finn, probably referencing to the first aid kit._

"_But my coach is hurt and—"_

"_Drop it!"_

_The sound of the kit dropping to the floor could be heard from off the screen. _

"_Come, Lacey," Jensen ordered, reaching for her arm and grabbing it tightly._

"_Let me go!" she growled, tugging her arm away._

_Jensen wasted no time and smacked Lacey with the side of his gun, hitting her so hard that he actually drew blood. Still unwilling to give in, she pulled herself away and dodged another one of his attempts to hit her, letting out a piercing scream when he got her again. _

_She tightened her grip on the vase that she had in her hand and raised it over her head, bringing it down hard against her father's skull so it shattered to pieces. _

"_Dammit!" he shouted, grabbing his head to see if he was bleeding. _

_Patience gone, he pulled something small out of his jacket. _

_A needle. _

_He quickly jabbed it into her neck and watched as she wilted in his arms and fell to the floor. _

"_Did you just…" Finn asked from off the range of the camera. _

"_It was just a sedative," Jensen muttered before aiming his gun right back at Finn. _

"_Now pick her up and carry her. I'll tell you where to go…" _

_Not having any other choice, Finn stepped into the view of the camera and picked up Lacey's unconscious body. _

_Just before they left the range of the camera view, a wicked grin could be seen on Jensen's face as he eyed Finn as though he had bigger plans for him later on. _

_A few moments later, Jesse and Rachel could be seen walking into the camera as they came to investigate. _

Jesse sighed and hit stop on the video.

"That explains that…" he muttered, rubbing his hands over his eyes.

"He made her bleed…" Kristian murmured, staring at the screen in a daze.

"There's another one…" Rachel said, pointing to another screen with a flashing red light.

There were DVDs scattered on the console under that screen. They were all labeled with either "Lacey" or "Katherine" and the date. It was as though Jensen had pulled them all out to rewatch them like sick home movies.

Kristian immediately moved towards the screen and hit the rewind button, eager to see what else the cameras had caught then. There was another situation between Lacey and Jensen, only this one seemed to take place in the very lab they were in right now. The date in the corner was from a month and a half ago.

A fight between Lacey and Jensen played out right before their eyes on the television screen.

"_Stop! Please, just stop!" she cried, trying to grab her father's arm to stop him from injecting her with something._

"Oh God," Rachel whispered, placing her hand over her mouth as she watched the horrific scene on the screen.

She glanced over at Jesse and Kristian to see how they were taking this particular recording. They both stood there stunned as they watched their sister fight off their father on the screen.

"_Please, no more!" she begged, holding her hands out to protect herself from him. _

"_Stop being so difficult, Lacey. If you want to help your mother—"_

"_There has to be another way! I can't do this anymore… It hurts too much," she protested, reaching for the needles in her arm hooked up into her arm and tugging them out, making her shriek from the pain. _

_Her father lunged at her to try and push her back into the bed, but she ducked under his arms and evaded him, knocking over a small cart with virus samples next to the bed. _

_The sound of glass breaking could be heard as they fell to the floor._

"_You little bitch!" Jensen growled, grabbing her arm and throwing her back to the bed. "Do you realize how long it took me to develop those?"_

"_Let me go!" she screamed, thrashing in the bed to try and get away from him. _

_Jensen ignored her and grabbed the needle that he left on the corner of the bed. _

"_Please… don't…" Lacey begged, her voice growing more and more desperate as tears began falling freely down her face. "Please stop… Daddy, please!"_

_Jensen ignored her and simply jabbed the needle into her arm, bringing another sob from Lacey's lips. _

_Lacey buried her face into her hands and broke down completely. _

_Unable to take it anymore, Jensen snapped and smacked Lacey so hard that the sound made those watching the recording flinch. By this point she was so weak that she actually fell back off the bed and into the broken glass. _

"_Look what you did. Clean it up!" _

Kristian was the one to hit stop on the tape because he simply couldn't take it anymore.

Jesse stood there in a state of shock, unable to tear his eyes from the screen.

"Jesse…" Rachel whispered, grabbing his hand and squeezing it.

Her lip trembled as she fought back the tears that were threatening to fall after witnessing such a horrific thing.

"Jesse… say something," she begged, tugging at his sweater sleeve to get him to snap out of it.

Next to them, Kristian shook his head and walked away to the opposite wall.

Jesse leaned against the console under the television screens and looked down to hide the tears that were filling his eyes from Rachel. She could feel Jesse's hand shaking with rage so she pulled it to her lips to try and soothe him.

"I'm gonna kill him," Kristian whispered, so low that Rachel or Jesse could barely hear him.

"What did you say?" she asked, tearing her eyes away from Jesse for a moment.

He turned to look at her with a dead serious stare that actually scared her.

"I'm gonna kill him," he repeated, this time a little louder.

"Kristian-"

Kristian clenched his jaw and grabbed the nearest piece of expensive looking equipment, ripping it from where it was plugged into the wall and knocking it to the ground with a loud crash.

The sound seemed to wake Jesse up from his trance and he snapped his head up to see what Kristian was doing. He watched as he grabbed another one of the machines and threw it to the floor with the first one.

"Stop him…" Rachel whispered to Jesse. "This isn't going to help anything."

Jesse pulled his hand away from Rachel and approached his brother, grabbing one of the machines that he had just thrown to stop it before it crashed to the floor.

"You're gonna kill him?" Jesse asked with his eyes so wide that he almost looked insane. "Are you serious?"

Kristian gritted his teeth and nodded.

"Don't even try getting in my way because you'll only be wasting your time."

"Okay," Jesse whispered with a nod. "If you're killing him, I want in."

"What?" Rachel whispered from where she stood. "You can't be serious."

"Together?" Kristian asked, completely ignoring Rachel.

The brothers exchanged nods of agreement before turning back to the rest of the equipment. Jesse took the one that he already had in his hands and threw it down to the floor.

"Stop!" Rachel cried as she rushed to Jesse and tried tugging him away, but it was no use.

Both of the brothers were in such a state that they couldn't hear a thing Rachel was shouting at them. All they could focus on was the searing rage that was shooting through them of them like molten volcanic lava.

Jesse grabbed the door to the lab and threw it open, running up the staircase to get back to their father's study with Kristian jogging up behind him. Rachel reluctantly followed so she could keep an eye on them.

When they reached the study, Jesse started grabbing the family pictures on the walls and shelves and started throwing them to the floor. Kristian went for the diplomas and certificates to give them a similar fate. They both then moved on to the shelves and started grabbing books and awards, throwing them against the walls. Papers that bore the Umbrella logo flew through the air as they tossed the neatly organized paperwork around them.

It was the only way they could get their aggression out right now after reaching the maximum limit of all they could possibly withstand. Call it rage, call it temporary insanity, call it whatever you like – but it was still all they could manage to do to get out of their system and cope.

Rachel stood in the doorway with her hands wrapped around herself, watching as the man she loved as well as his brother ravaged the room entirely. She didn't even bother to fight back the tears that were falling freely down her cheeks because there was just no point. Even though she wasn't related to Lacey, she was still worried about her as well as Finn, of course. But she felt only a fraction of what they must have been feeling after finding out that their father had abused and tested on their sister.

Still, she didn't think it was worth becoming a killer to get back at him. Neither Jesse nor Kristian deserved to spend life in prison for revenge. She wished that there was something that she could have done to help calm them down and handle this better, but she knew that there was no point in trying when they were both in such a lost state. So she kept her eye on Jesse and waited for him to get it out of his system. But the more and more it got out of hand, the more she knew that she couldn't just stand aside and watch.

Jesse caught sight of a portrait of his father on the wall and pulled his gun out from his jeans.

"Jesse, stop!" Rachel shrieked, having had enough.

She ran up behind him and grabbed his hand to make him lower the weapon.

"Not now, Rachel," he growled, trying to turn from her, but she quickly grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him to face her.

Before he could protest, she slapped him hard across his face, leaving him stunned. He raised his hand to his cheek and rubbed it, still in disbelief over the fact that she had actually struck him.

"No more. No more, BOTH OF YOU!" she shouted, turning her attention to Kristian who was about to throw his father's telescope through the window.

"I know you're angry. Trust me, I know. But you're wasting time and energy that could be spent getting everyone together so we can find your father and stop him before he hurts anyone else. Get a hold of yourselves!"

This whole thing had her shaking now. She stood there with her fists clenched as she waited for either of them to respond.

"You smacked me," was all Jesse could say.

"You were out of control!" she replied, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

Jesse looked back at Kristian for a second. They exchanged glances before turning to the chaos that they had created in the study. It was only now that he realized how much damage that he had done because he was so far gone in his anger to realize it as he was doing it. It was as though something had taken him over.

Closing his eyes, he turned away from the both of them as he thought back to all the times where his father had lost control and caused similar kinds of destruction whenever he reached his own breaking point. It terrified him as a child and he always swore to never become anything like that, and here he was acting just like him.

"You two are better than this and you're not going to become murderers like him. There are other ways—"

"Oh, I'm getting my revenge," Kristian muttered, shaking his head at her.

"Is it worth going to jail?"

"All I know is he hurt my sister, the person I care about the most in this world and I won't let him get away with it!"

Jesse turned around and stepped towards Kristian, putting his hand on his shoulder.

"Enough," he muttered quietly. "We'll deal with it when we find him."

"Jesse…" Rachel whispered anxiously, not knowing what he meant by that.

Jesse turned back to Rachel and stared at her for a second that felt like an eternity to her. He took a step towards her and reached for her hand, pulling her into his arms.

"Don't say anything right now. Just… stay here," he whispered, burying his face into her hair.

She nodded and gripped his sweater, tugging him closer for a tighter embrace.

"I love you," she whispered for only him to hear.

"Great," Kristian muttered from behind them, rolling his eyes and turning away so he didn't have to see their public display of affection. "If you two can hurry up, we have more important—"

An ear shattering alarm sounded out from the laboratory below. It echoed up the stairwell and into the study so loud that it shook the remaining pictures on the walls.

"What the—" Kristian whispered.

"Let's go!" Jesse said quickly, grabbing Rachel's hand and pulling her towards the secret doorway.

Kristian pulled his own gun out from his jeans and made sure he had enough bullets before following after them to find out what on earth could have tripped such an ominous alarm.


	11. Race Against The Clock

"What the hell do you think that's for?" Kristian asked as they quickly ran down the stairs to head back to the private lab to investigate.

"Beats me," Jesse shouted, trying to make his voice audible over the piercing alarm that sounded over and over.

As they neared the lab, they could see the eerie warm glow of bright red lights flashing from the inside.

"This isn't good," Rachel whimpered. "What if there's something in there?"

"It was enclosed. There can't be."

"What if—"

"Rach, let's just find out…" Jesse cut in impatiently, reaching for the door to get it open.

The sound of the alarm was even louder from inside the lab itself. They all had to immediately clasp their hands over their ears to try and block out the screeching sound that seemed to be threatening to rupture their eardrums.

"IS THERE ANY WAY TO MAKE IT STOP?" Rachel shouted, hoping they could hear her over the noise.

"Yeah, I'll make it stop!" Kristian growled, grabbing one of the rolling computer chairs from the desk in the corner and raising it over his head to smash it against the console.

"Kris, drop it!" Jesse shouted quickly, giving him a glare.

"Jesse!" Rachel gasped, pointing a finger to one of the monitors on the surveillance wall that they had previously been watching before everything fell apart.

From where they stood at the end of the lab, they could see frantic movement on one of the screens. Whatever it was, it must have been the reason why the alarms were sounding off.

"Zombies?" Kristian asked, letting the chair drop to the ground.

Jesse ran to the screen and toggled one of the knobs to bring the picture in clearer focus. It was the room with the statues and the suits of armor lined up around the walls. On the far wall, they could see the figures of two people in a panic. One was a tall male who seemed to have his arm stuck in a hole in the wall and the other was a shorter female who was trying to help pull him loose.

"That's Mike and Tina," Rachel said quickly, placing her hand on the screen nervously. "What did they do?"

Kristian scoffed and crossed his arms as though he was observing a bad low budget horror movie on the screen.

"Idiots," he muttered, but the alarm made it inaudible to the rest.

"He must have tripped some security trap and now he's stuck," Jesse said loudly so Rachel could hear.

A red message was flashing ominously on the monitor.

_WARNING! WARNING! POISON GAS RELEASE TRIGGERED! _

Below it was a small timer counting down at two minutes and thirty seven seconds.

"There's gotta be something we can do…" Rachel said quickly, her voice drenched with worry.

"Wait, look at that!" Kristian called, pointing to another screen.

Rachel whipped her head around and charged over next to him to see what else could be the matter.

"No!" she cried out, running both of her hands through her hair and stepping back fearfully.

"What now?" Jesse called out as his eyes scanned the console for anything he could do to help Tina and Mike.

"Kurt and Blaine!" she cried, her eyes wide with terror.

"What's wrong?" Jesse shouted out without looking because he was still trying to figure out how to help Tina and Mike.

"They landed themselves in the that little trap you guys were in earlier," said Kristian as he leaned against the console. There was slight amusement on his face that made Rachel grit her teeth and clench her fists when she caught sight of it.

Turning her attention back to the screen, she watched with wide eyes as Kurt and Blaine tried with all their might to get the door open. She knew from experience that no amount of pounding or kicking would make the thing budge.

"How, though?" Rachel whispered.

"How the hell did that happen? There's no more gun in the other room to trigger it!" Jesse called out as he continued pressing random buttons in hopes that it would save Tina and Mike.

"Maybe the system's gone haywire," Kristian shrugged. "Or Dad's being a son of a bitch and trying to off everyone."

Rachel rolled her eyes and grabbed Kristian by the ear to pull him down to her eye level. The simple act alone caught him off guard and he stared into the brunette's dark eyes with slight trepidation.

"You know how to stop that thing, so do it!" she growled.

"I need to be there so they can punch in the code!"

"TRY ANYTHING!" she snapped, grabbing his shoulder and shoving him towards the console.

She quickly turned back to Jesse to see how he was doing. She watched as he hit a red button and it made the alarm go off.

"Did you stop it?" she asked.

"No. Just the alarm. The countdown is still going…" he said, looking down at the timer to see that they didn't have very much time left at all.

Kristian hit a random button that somehow triggered the sound on the screens to be played in the room. She could hear Kurt and Blaine shouting for someone to help them through the speakers and it absolutely killed her. The fact that she was watching and listening to two of her best friends in what could be their final moments made her heart ache like nothing ever before.

"KURT? BLAINE! CAN YOU HEAR ME?" she called, rushing to the screen they were visible on.

Nothing.

"It's one way," said Kristian with a shake of his head. "They can't hear you."

The sound in Tina and Mike's room had been triggered on as well. She could hear them arguing clearly as Mike continued to try and break free.

"Tina, my hand is stuck. This thing locked down on my hand and no matter—how hard—I pull… You're going to have to—"

"No way!"

'_POISON GAS RELEASE IN 30 SECONDS!_' said a female voice recording from some speakers inside the room.

"No no no no no no no…" they heard Tina repeat as she reached out for Mike.

"Jesse…" Rachel whimpered nervously.

"I'm trying, Rachel…" he almost shouted.

He hit a button that triggered a map of the mansion to come up on the screen. Narrowing his eyes, he spotted the room Tina and Mike were in flashing red on the map.

"Tina, just listen to me. It's over and you're going to have to go on without me," insisted Mike.

"How could you even suggest that?" she snapped back.

"Poison, Tina! Poison! If I have to…"

"Please, no… I can't," she shook her head frantically as she reached out to cup his face in between her hands.

Rachel stepped back and wrapped her arms around her body to hold herself together. On one side of the monitors, she could see two of her friends having a tragic forced goodbye while on the other side, she could hear Kurt and Blaine having their very own.

"This is it, Kurt," Blaine choked.

By this point, the ceiling had descended so low on the room that they couldn't see anything because the camera was covered by it. They could still hear everything, though.

"Blaine… Please don't let me go," she heard Kurt whimper, bringing a vicious sob from Rachel's lips.

"Never," he replied.

"Please… stop it," she cried, burying her face in her hands.

"Tina, please! You have to go on!"

"I said, I'm not going!"

'_10 seconds until Poison Gas Release!'_

"Come on… Come on…" Jesse whispered under his breath as a small box on the screen popped up saying "MANUAL OVERRIDE? Y/N?"

"I love you, Blaine…" they heard Kurt whisper.

"I love you, too…" said Blaine through his obvious tears.

"Mike, I love you. So much," Tina said through her tears as she pulled him into an emotional kiss.

He sighed against her lips in resignation and kissed her back, obviously wanting to show her how much he loved her in his final moment.

"I love you, Tina…"

"_5…"_

"I can't take this…" Rachel muttered, running her hands through her hair and messing it up even more.

"_4…"_

Kurt and Blaine's screams were ripping at all of their hearts—even Kristian's. He clenched his jaw as he worked faster, finding his own Manual Override screen menu.

"_3…"_

Jesse's hands were shaking as he and Kristian were prompted with a 5 lettered password screen and a hint saying '_Hope of The family St. James'_.

"Shit…shit…shit…" he whispered under his breath.

"Jesse, it's you!" Kristian shouted as he began typing it in.

"What?"

"_2…"_

"YOUR NAME! DO IT!"

Rachel watched with wide and tearful eyes as both brothers quickly tapped out Jesse's name on their override screens. Unable to take the suspense, she closed her eyes and held her breath.

Just as the speakers announced _'1…' _and Blaine and Kurt's screams got as loud and unbearable as ever, a loud chime echoed through the room.

"_Manual Overrides Accepted."_

The sound of the ceiling in Kurt and Blaine's room scraping against the walls could be heard as it seemed to begin to ascend again. Back on the other screen where Tina and Mike were at, they could see him leaning against the wall with his hand now free and Tina's face buried into his chest.

Despite the fact that they seemed alright, Rachel was still anxious and on edge. She kept her eyes on the dark screen in Kurt and Blaine's room as she waited for the ceiling to ascend completely and let the camera capture them again. Until that happened, she was going to remain holding her breath.

"That was so close…" they heard Blaine sigh once they came into full view with the ceiling fully ascended.

"I'm going to kill, Jesse. I'm going to KILL JESSE and the rest of his family for having such an insane house from some horror movie!" Kurt said quickly as he tried to pull himself up to his feet, but they seemed to shaky to hold himself up.

"Not when he finds out we saved his ass…" Kristian muttered with a small laugh.

This seemed to give Rachel all the relief she needed, and she was actually able to breathe again.

"You two did it!" she exclaimed, feeling a wave of emotion start to overcome her. "You saved them. I just…You don't even know…"

She walked up to Jesse and grabbed his face between his hands to pull him down to her level for a kiss.

"I love you," she whispered, kissing him again on the lips.

Just as he was opening his mouth to say that he loved her, too, she let go of him and ran over at Kristian.

"Woah, what—"he began, but was cut off but her wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him into a tight embrace.

"You're a little crazy and you tried to kill me and Jesse, but you saved my best friends and I can't begin to thank you enough!" she spoke at a mile a minute, so fast that he could barely hear what she was saying, but he still understood.

"Alright already, Girl Scout. No need for all the hugs…" Kristian muttered as he awkwardly moved his hands around, not really knowing if he should hug her back because he wasn't used to such things.

"Just accept it," Jesse said from behind her with a smirk. "It'll all be easier that way."

"You listen to your brother," said Rachel, as she pulled away from Kristian to glance back at the screen and take another look at Kurt and Blaine who were now sharing a kiss. Her eyes moved over to Tina and Mike in the midst of the very same thing and it truly warmed her heart.

She stepped back into Jesse's arms and sighed contentedly.

"It doesn't all have to end badly," she smiled. "We can get through this. This is proof enough that not everyone has to die. We can save everyone else and get out of here."

Jesse nodded and pressed a kiss to the back of her head as he held her close.

"You two are so weird," Kristian muttered as he eyed them with a raised brow.

"Hey, now…" Rachel frowned, reaching one hand to playfully hit his arm. "There's nothing wrong with a little affection."

Jesse shook his head and let his chin rest on top of her head.

"He's not used to seeing two people be so loving with each other. Especially when it's coming from me," he explained.

"Damn right. Jesse isn't supposed to have a heart," Kristian nodded.

"Yes, well. I found it quite some time ago. You just have to go searching for it a little. But it's there, and it's all mine."

He nodded and kissed the side of her head.

"All yours."

"Gag me," Kristian muttered, his face contorting in uncomfortable disgust.

Rachel playfully hit Kristian again before turning in Jesse's arms to fully embrace him.

"What's next? Are you two going to go off into some room and fuck?" Kristian asked with a raised brow.

Jesse's eyes widened and he looked away at the screens.

"Oh shit, you two actually—"

"That's none of your business, Kristian," Rachel said quickly, turning to give him a warning look before looking back at the screens with Jesse.

Kurt and Blaine had already left, obviously not wanting to spend more time lingering in that room than they had to. In the other room, Tina and Mike were holding hands and walking towards the door to leave.

They watched with smiles as Tina reached for the doorknob and pulled it open, happy that they could leave that death trap of a room and live to see another day.

"Oh, God…" they heard Tina say fearfully, making them all stiffen nervously as they watched for whatever it was they were seeing outside of the door.

"What…" Rachel began, but froze when she saw Tina and Mike begin to literally run back into the room as a group of maybe six or seven zombies rushed inside after them.

"No!" Rachel gasped as she gripped at Jesse's shirt in her fists.

"MIKE!" they heard Tina scream, backing herself against the corner.

"They're pinned in. No way out," Kristian muttered.

The other two couldn't see it because they had their eyes glued to the screen in horror, but Kristian's usually deranged looking eyes were actually softened with sadness right now. His mouth was slightly parted in shock and his lip quivered a little. No matter how cynical or careless he pretended to be, he was actually pretty emotional right now. It seemed that even though he probably did a better job at hiding it than Jesse did, the other St. James son actually had a heart as well.

Rachel wanted to squeeze her eyes shut so she didn't have to watch Tina and Mike in the corner of the room with fear etched into their faces, but they were stuck wide open.

"C-Can't we get to them? Help them? We have guns…" she said quickly, looking between Kristian and Jesse.

Kristian shook his head and pointed to the highlighted room on the map on the screen.

"Other part of the house. We'll never get there in time," he muttered, his voice cracking.

"Rachel, don't look," Jesse said quietly, reaching his hand up into her hair to try and get her to bury her face in his chest, but she wouldn't allow it.

"No… we need to do something… we can't just let them—"

"TINA STAY BACK!" Mike shouted, grabbing her and pulling her behind him so he could protect her.

"Jesse…" Rachel whimpered.

Then it all happened so quickly that they hardly had any time to look away. One of the zombies grabbed Mike's arm and pulled him away from her so he fell down to the floor. Two others descended on him and began lunging at him for any part of him they could grab. The rest went straight for a screaming Tina.

At the sight of all the blood and the sounds of the screams, Rachel shook her head frantically and pulled away from Jesse. She brought her hands to her ears to block out the sound of the screams, but they seemed to echo straight through for her to hear as though they were right next to her.

"Shut it off…" Jesse said quickly to Kristian. "SHUT IT OFF!"

Kristian moved towards the console to see if he could at least turn off the sound so they wouldn't have to hear them screaming as their bodies were ripped apart by crazed cannibalistic undead beings. Before he managed to do it, though, Tina let out an ear shattering shriek of Mike's name that seem to pierce them straight to their bones. Hearing it only made Rachel scream, herself as she tightened her hands over her ears to block it out.

Jesse left Kristian to try and get the screen off so he could go be there for Rachel. He grabbed her arm and tried to tug her into a hug, but she pulled away and ran towards the door to the lab.

"Rachel!" he called after her as he followed.

"Just leave me alone!" she cried as she turned the corner and started running up the stairs.

She was so emotional that she couldn't even make it halfway before she collapsed in the middle of the staircase and buried her face into her hands as she cried on the steps.

He watched her for a moment, unable to decide how to help her because he knew that witnessing her friends die wasn't something he could help her get over right now. He couldn't just say that it would be okay, because there was now way that it could be. She would be forever scarred after tonight and it would take a life time of being there for her to so much as try and make it alright again.

Sighing softly under his breath, he stepped up the stairs and sat down next to her. He opened his mouth to say something, but there was nothing he could say. So he instead settled for just putting his hand on her back and gently rubbing it so she knew that he was there.

When she felt his hand on her back, she poked her head up and began to move away but she couldn't take it anymore. She couldn't deal with this by herself and she needed to feel his arms wrapped around hers so she could at least trick herself into feeling like things could possibly be alright. The feel of his arms was always so warm and safe that way.

She wiped the tears from her cheek with the back of her hand as she moved into his arms, burying her face into his sweater. Pressing his chin to the top of her head, he wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly in his arms. The feeling of security that his arms provided her with allowed her to truly let it all go and let out a loud sob as she clung tightly to his sweater to pull him closer.

"Jesse…Jesse…_Jesse_…" she repeated in the midst of her tears.

"I'm here," he whispered as he cupped the back of her head with his hand and held her close. He kissed the top of her head and closed his eyes. "I'm here…"

Back inside the lab, Kristian had finally gotten the monitor showing Tina and Mike's room to shut off. Glancing back at the map, he triggered the automatic locks so that the infected would be contained in that room.

With the sounds of the screaming gone, he could hear Rachel crying from the staircase outside of the lab and it made his heart clench. He heard Jesse whispering words of assurance as he tried to be there for her. It made him wonder how it would be if the same thing would have happened if it were with Jesse and Rachel in that room instead of Tina and Mike. It didn't take much thought to know the answer to that. Just being around them for a short amount of time showed him how devoted they were to each other and he knew that Rachel wouldn't have left his side to run away the same way Tina hadn't left Mike. He knew that Jesse would have held Rachel behind him for as long as he possibly could to protect her until he took his last breath. The fact alone gave him a new respect for his brother that he never thought could happen.

Wanting to give his brother a moment with Rachel, he grabbed the chair that he was previously going to throw at the console earlier and sat down. He exhaled a heavy breath and shook his head.

This had all gotten so real so quickly for him. He wasn't sure how, but he knew that he was going to be on his brother's side and help him however he could. He especially was going to do his best to make sure that nobody else had to die… especially Jesse and Rachel.


	12. The Living and the Dead

**A/N: So I had pretty much gone on fic retirement for a few months because I had figured I should spend more time on original writing, but I realized that I can do both. So I'm back! Without further ado, here's chapter twelve.**

* * *

><p>Jesse sat there on the staircase still tending to a sniffling Rachel. In an attempt to soothe her, he rubbed her back and ran his hand through her hair like he usually did, but those things weren't quite doing the trick right now. Two more of her friends had just died before her eyes and he didn't expect her to be smiling again anytime soon because of it. Still, that didn't mean that they had to stay put and mourn right now when there were more of her friends out there and a lot more work to do.<p>

Kristian had gotten up and walked past the laboratory doorway to check up on them. He exchanged glances with Jesse and nodded. They were both thinking the same thing.

"Rachel…" Jesse whispered, looking down at her and touching her cheek so she looked up at him.

It tugged at his heart to see her eyes so bloodshot from all the crying she had done. All of the stress and the grief was starting to really take its toll on her appearance and she wasn't looking like her normal youthful and bright self.

"I know…" she murmured as she wiped her eyes for probably the hundredth time. "I know we have to get going again."

Jesse nodded and brushed her hair behind her ears with his fingertips.

"We need to get everyone back together. Splitting up was a mistake," he said quietly. "I know that now. If I would have just kept everyone together…"

"Jesse…" she cut in, bringing a hand to his cheek. "Don't blame yourself. You didn't know how serious this was earlier."

"If we're gonna blame anyone, it's going to be dad," said Kristian from where he stood leaning against the wall. "And when we find him, he'll pay. For everything."

"Okay. Let's go," said Jesse with a nod.

* * *

><p>In the past few hours, Rachel had experienced a breakup, witness three of her fellow Glee Clubbers and coach get killed by the undead, in addition to coming close to her own demise on several occasions. Most people never experienced anything close to this level of tragedy at all in their lives and she was going through it all in such a short period of time. It left her completely shattered and wanting nothing more than to crumble to pieces and give in to the pain. Sadly, survival horror didn't allow such a thing.<p>

Even if she survived this night, it would never be okay. She could go home and crawl into bed, but the images of all the death she had witnessed would forever replay in her mind. Their screams would echo through the silence and wake her up in a cold sweat each time she actually managed to drift off. Nothing could fix this. Not all the Barbra music in the world. Not Jesse. Not her dads.

As far as she knew, all chances at happiness were officially gone. Glee Club was over with the death of their coach and members. There wasn't exactly anything left to be gleeful about, anyway. As far as she knew it, the only good thing that came out of this night was getting back together with Jesse. Despite the horror and tragedy that came from it, their reunion felt so right. But was it worth it all?

She glanced over at her boyfriend as they walked through the halls of the mansion with his younger brother following closely behind. It was clear from the stress etched in his features that all of this was getting to him, too. Despite how tired he obviously was, his eyes were carefully scanning every inch in front of them to make sure that the coast was clear all around. Unable to manage a smile, she simply reached up to run her hand through his hair lightly before moving closer to lean her head against his arm. As he wrapped his arm around her and kissed the side of her head like he usually did, she knew that she couldn't regret coming here. Yes, it was her fault that she had insisted that the Glee Club stop by Jesse's place after the show, but she couldn't stand the thought of Jesse facing all of this on his own. They would have to help each other survive, or go down together. No other option.

"I love you," she murmured weakly.

As he smiled and murmured the words back, Kristian sighed and stepped ahead of them to keep a better look at what was before them because they were obviously so distracted by each other to keep a good enough eye out.

"I approve of you guys now and all, but your mushy love is gonna get us all killed," he said as he peered around a corner with his gun aimed cautiously.

"Yes, well our love is pretty much all I have right now," Rachel said as they walked down the stairs to another hall. There should have been a bit of a snap in her tone, but everything had just weakened her down so much.

Kristian cringed and turned around.

"Keep your eyes open!" he whispered loudly, pointing to his eyes with his free hand. "Because the next thing you know, something is coming out of—"

A pair of clammy hands grabbed Kristian from behind and tugged him backwards so he stumbled and lost his balance. Their own distractions had made it easy for one of those vicious creatures to come out from the shadows and try and pick them off. Its blood curdling groan echoed throughout the hall as he tried to tug Kristian down off his feet to get him on the floor and make a proper meal out of him. With Kristian swearing at the thing and trying to tear himself away to save his own life, Jesse could barely aim his gun properly enough to get a good shot without risking hitting his brother.

"God damn it…" he grumbled as he jerked his arms to try and get it again.

"Could you stay still, Kristian?" Rachel called out as he continued to flail around and try to tear himself away.

"Oh yeah…totally…I'll just stop…moving…and let it get me!," he replied in the midst of his attempts to break free.

Jesse's eyes darted from in between the zombie and his brother and he knew he couldn't just stand around hoping for another shot. He sighed and aimed once more, grimacing a little as he tried not to think about the possibility of missing and hitting his brother.

"JESSE!" he and Rachel shouted simultaneously.

"I got it…" he muttered before squeezing the trigger and sending a single bullet right through its ear as it was about to lunge for his neck.

The zombie's head flew back and with one final croak, he fell to the ground in a lifeless heap.

Rachel flew forward and grabbed Kristian's shoulders to pull him down to her level so she could properly examine him for any scratches or other injuries the zombie may have inflicted.

"It didn't get you, did it?" she asked as she looked over his neck.

Kristian's eyebrows furrowed in confusion at the amount of care Rachel was putting into him after everything that happened and what he had done before.

"I'm—I'm fine," he said quickly.

Jesse stepped forward and put his hand on his brother's shoulder.

"Keep your eyes open, Kris," he muttered, bringing his gun up to tap Kristian's head lightly.

"Yeah, yeah," he muttered. "It was all your-"

Jesse rolled his eyes and pulled him into a one armed hug.

"Jesse—"

"Shut up," he muttered back.

"Jesse—"

"Just take it."

"Oh, you two…" Rachel said in a much higher voice thanks to all the emotion she was feeling from the moment. She shook her head brushed away a few stray tears before pulling them both into a hug.

"Oh god. Now we're really going to get killed," said a muffled Kristian.

"Alright, alright," Jesse chuckled, giving his brother a final pat on the back before letting him go and slipping his arm around Rachel's waist.

Kristian turned back around and began walking ahead with his eyes peeled even more than before.

"I should've gotten that one on camera," Rachel whispered with a small smirk.

* * *

><p>"I don't like just standing around here and waiting," Kurt grumbled as he leaned against a wall in the living room.<p>

Blaine watched him from the couch and shook his head.

"I don't think we should go anywhere after what just happened, Kurt. If the ceiling hadn't stopped coming down, we would have just been killed in that room."

Kurt huffed and began pacing.

"We can't just stay back when the rest of our friends are out there!"

"Then come with us," Rachel said from the doorway with Jesse and Kristian right behind her.

"Rachel!" Kurt and Blaine both shouted at the same time as they rushed to the group.

Rachel was completely lifted off the ground by Kurt when he threw his arms around her. Despite everything that had happened, she couldn't help but smile at the fact that her best friend was still among the living. When she was set back down on the ground, she showered his cheek with kisses before rushing over to Blaine to give him some attention.

"How are you guys doing?" Jesse asked, recalling back to how they had seen them almost get squished.

Kurt immediately scowled at Jesse.

"YOU! You…and this house…and—"

"You wouldn't believe what happened—" Blaine began, but Rachel shook her head and cut him off.

"We know. We saw it from the surveillance cameras and stopped it before it turned you into Klaine pancakes," she said with a serious nod.

"Really?" whispered Kurt.

"It's all true," Jesse confirmed.

"Wow… well, thanks," said Kurt as he reached out to shake Jesse's hand.

"I'd really love to take all the credit, but I had help," he said, gesturing over to Kristian.

"Oh, and you are?" Kurt asked as he held his hand out.

"This is my brother Kristian," said Jesse as he watched them shake hands. "Kris, this is Kurt and that happy puppy over there who won't let go of Rachel is Blaine."

"I totally see it," said Kristian with his head tilted curiously.

Kurt smiled and glanced back at his boyfriend and best friend still embracing before looking back at Jesse.

"So, no luck with your sister and Finn?" he asked with a slight frown as he seemed to realize that they weren't there.

Jesse's small smile he was wearing from seeing Rachel so happy disappeared at his words. He sighed and looked down.

"No… But we know where to go now," he said quietly "Anyway, we should go find the others before going to the labs," Jesse said as he ejected the magazine from his gun to see how many bullets he had left. "And we'll need to make a quick stop at that weapons room I saw on the map."

Kurt and Blaine both stared at Jesse as though they were wondering if they heard correctly.

"Labs?" Kurt asked.

"Weapons room?" asked Blaine.

"This is nuts," said Kurt, shaking his head and walking away.

"This is… cool!" said Blaine excitedly.

Kurt shot Blaine an unamused look and Blaine simply shrugged. "Blaine, we almost got squished. This is not cool."

"Let's get moving," said Jesse before turning on his feet to go back out the door towards the Entrance Hall.

Everyone else followed behind him and Rachel sped up catch up. The sadness was back in her eyes and he hated it after just getting to see her smile only moments before.

"We should tell them," she whispered.

He shook his head and pushed another door in the hall open that led to a long dark hallway that was lit by the eerie moonlight shining in through the long row of windows on one side.

Jesse placed his finger to his lips and shook his head before walking forward.

"Jesse, we need to tell them. They should know about what happened—"

"Tell us about what?" asked Blaine as he caught up.

Jesse turned around and sighed in resignation.

"Okay…"

"I'll tell them," Rachel cut in quietly. As co-captain of New Directions, it should be her telling them that two more of their teammates were dead. "What happened was—"

The sound of glass shattering echoed throughout the hall and it made the whole group whip their heads around to see where it came from. A window at the end of the hall had burst open as one of those zombified dogs from the front of the manor grounds jumped through. It stood there growling at them and blocking the door that they were supposed leave from. The moonlight shining on it made the glass embedded in it's already mangled flesh shine a little. There was a particularly large and jagged piece poking out of its eye and it didn't seem to notice or care.

"Great," Kurt groaned.

"Turn back," Jesse said quietly. "TURN BACK!"

They all spun around to head back to the Entrance Hall, hoping they could just take another way around to get where they needed to go. Just as they were about to reach the door, another window exploded as another dog burst through to block their way from there.

"We're trapped!" Rachel cried out.

The dog behind them broke out at a run and jumped in the air, knocking Blaine down to the ground effortlessly. It completely knocked the wind out of him and he had trouble raising his arm to swing at it with the fireplace poker he had armed himself with before.

Before Kurt even had time to notice and react, Jesse had taken a shot at the dog, but missed its head. It was enough to distract it and prevent it from ripping out Blaine's throat like it wanted, but it also made the disgruntled zombie dog spin around and come after him.

Kristian and Kurt both grabbed each of Blaine's arms and pulled him back up to his feet. Blaine grabbed Rachel who grabbed Jesse as they ran for the door at the end of the hall now that there wasn't anything else blocking it. As they ran, the sound of some more glass breaking rang out, but they couldn't bring themselves to look back and see how many more dogs were coming after them.

Krisitan threw the door open and held it for everyone else to storm out of the hall. Once Jesse scrambled in, he pushed the door closed, but a dog managed to get its head through. He slammed the door hard on its head, but it continued to fight as hard as it could to get through and feast on them.

"SHOOT IT!" Kristian shouted as he shoved the door even harder and had to avoid the creature snapping its jaws at him.

Jesse raised his gun to take a shot, but a blast from another weapon fired before he could. It was so much louder and nearly blew their eardrums out from the blast. Whatever it was blew the dog's head off completely and sprayed the door with ricocheting pieces of ammo. Most narrowly missed Kristian, but one grazed his arm. Swearing loudly, he pushed forward and shut the door. As the rest of the dogs tried ramming the door to try and break it down, they all looked for the source of the gunfire.

"So this thing does work," said Puck with a smirk as he ran his hand along the shotgun in his hand.

Rachel squeaked as she realized who it was. Her smile grew even wider when she saw the outlines of Quinn, Sam, and Mercedes right behind him.

"You're all alright?" she asked as she approached them.

"I'm fine," said Kristian as he leaned against the rattling door and inspected his wound. "Kristian's all fine. So none of you need worry. I'll just stay here. Bleeding."

Jesse grabbed his arm muttering something along the lines of "Bigger drama queen that me…" and pulled him away from the door so they could join the other group and continue where they were going.

"Jesse, we need to talk about how your house is something out of a shitty SciFi movie. I mean, zombies. Zombie dogs. Guns lying around. What the hell kind of place is this?" complained Puck as Rachel tried to wrap her arm around him and the gun that was probably half her height.

Rachel let go of Puck and went on to attacking the rest of the group with hugs that they had no choice but to accept. Quinn seemed to enjoy the hug more than she would for someone who was previously so pissed at her for leading them all to their potential deaths. Maybe life and death situations had a way of making some people see what was really important in life and that arguing was just a waste of time.

"It's just as big of a surprise to me as it is to you, man," Jesse shrugged to Puck as he watched Rachel reunite with her friends.

"Hey, wait a minute…" muttered Kurt as he glanced around, seemingly taking a headcount. "Where's Brittany and Santana?"

Mercedes shared a nervous look with Sam and Quinn.

Rachel caught the look and began trembling in Quinn's arms immediately at the thought of there being more death in their club.

"We heard the screams, but we couldn't get to them in time. The room they were in was locked and Puck or Sam couldn't ram it down no matter how hard they tried. Once it got quiet, we figured they were gone," explained Mercedes in a hushed voice.

Hearing it being recounted seemed to make what little bit of the strong wall Quinn had up come toppling down and she wasn't able to hold back the sob that ripped through her. For once, Rachel made herself be the strong one and she straightened up to be Quinn's shoulder to cry on. Despite their history of fighting, she would never wish something as tragic as losing her two best friends on her.

"Maybe they got out another way?" Jesse asked as he stepped forward to rub Rachel's back, knowing that she still needed it even if she was trying to appear strong.

"Don't give us false hope like that," Quinn snapped. "They're gone. That's it. Trying to make us believe anything else is just cruel."

"Quinn…" Rachel began.

"I'm glad you're all okay and everything but… just leave me alone," she muttered as she pulled away and walked over to the corner.

Jesse shoved his gun in his jeans and placed both of his hands on Rachel's shoulders and rubbed them as he kissed the back of her head.

"I guess now is as good a time as any to let you guys know that Tina and Mike didn't make it either," she said in a voice a little bit above a whisper.

"Great. Fucking great," Quinn muttered under her breath.

"We're all going to die, aren't we?" asked Mercedes sadly.

"Probably. But if I'm going down, it's like a badass," said Puck. "Taking out as much of those freaks as I can."

"Guys…" said Sam as he glanced between the two. "We can't just give up like this."

"What's the point?" asked Quinn. "We're gonna die so we might as well just… do it ourselves. How many more bullets do you have in that thing?"

Jesse pulled his gun away from her reach before she could grab it from his jeans.

"Are you out of your mind, Quinn?" snapped Kurt. "That's not an option!"

"It's my life and it's my choice and I saw what those dogs did to Artie and I heard Brittany and Santana screaming," she said before looking over at Jesse. Finn and your sister are probably already dead now, let's face the facts. That's not going to be me. So give it to me."

"Quinn…no," whispered Rachel. "You can't think that way. We're going to make it, just you wait and see—"

"I'm sure you think that you and Jesse are going to get out of here and live Happily Ever After like they do in all the stories. But you won't. You two will get ripped apart like everyone else and there won't be a happy ending. The sooner you accept it, the better."

Jesse scowled at her and pulled Rachel a little closer to him.

"Well it's a good thing you're wrong, huh?" he said with a glare.

"Look guys… I know things seem really grim right now but you need to just have a little faith!" Rachel piped up.

There were a few scoffs and huffs from the defeated ones.

"No, Rachel's right," said Jesse. "Look, we're stronger than this and we're going to make it. We have weapons and we're about to get some more. We know where we're going and what we're going to do now and we can have each other's backs."

"But this is all way bigger than a couple of high school kids, Jesse. This is mega," said Mercedes. "And we don't even know what's causing it or why."

"I'll tell you what this is," Jesse said seriously. "This is all the result of Umbrella Corporation. More specifically, my father and his experiments. He tested on my family and everything you see going around is the product of his madness."

Before Puck could get in Jesse's face and blame him, he raised his hand to stop him.

"Let me finish. I'm just as angry as you all are, if not more. He has my sister and from the look of it, my mother as well. It's his fault why so many people are dead and I'm not going to let him take me or anyone else down. Especially not before I take him down, myself."

Puck narrowed his eyes and nodded.

Rachel sighed nervously and leaned against Jesse.

"Quinn…" Jesse continued as he looked over to her. "If not pull through and help for yourself, then do it for them. They need to be avenged."

She looked down.

"If he has your sister, then does he have Finn?" she asked.

Jesse nodded.

"Alright… I'm in," she whispered.

"Okay, let's go," said Jesse as he led the way down the hall.

"We're like real life Avengers," said Sam in a bit of excitement. "Can I be Captain America?"

"As long as I get to be Iron Man," said Blaine as he followed behind with Kurt who simply rolled his eyes.

"Have I told you lately that I love you?" Rachel asked Jesse as she held his hand.

"Not in the last five minutes, no," he chuckled.

"Well, I love you. More than I ever knew I was capable of loving and that was pretty high before. Little things like that speech back there just make it grow more and more," she said tenderly.

Jesse kissed her forehead and gave her a small smile.

"Ditto."

Rachel frowned.

"Oh, don't you go quoting _Ghost_. That's bad luck in our situation! For all we know-"

He sighed and cut her off with a kiss.

"I love you, too."


	13. Loss of Innocence

Sort of stopped working on this because I didn't feel like the St. Berry bubble was liking it very much. But one reviewer asking me to update kind of set the spark in revisiting this. This is for you.

* * *

><p>"It shouldn't be too far away from here," Jesse muttered, peering down the dark halls with narrowed eyes.<p>

"Still don't get how you guys lived here your whole lives without noticing any of this crazy shit around here," Puck said as he took the lead and held his gun up like he knew all the guys did in all the movies.

"We were never allowed to really look around. And it reached a point where we just hated this place so we looked for any excuse to not be here," Kristian explained for Jesse.

Jesse nodded and walked ahead, stopping in front of a door with a numeric key pad next to it. "This. This is it," he muttered, running his hand along the edge of the door.

"And would you happen to know the code to get in there?" asked Kurt with a raised brow. "Because that _might_ be helpful."

Without a response, he pulled back and grabbed the old journal from his pocket to flip through the pages for any info on that.

"We can just try shooting it… that works in the movies," Puck suggested with a half shrug.

"Yeah, wasting a bullet on a thick metal door to a weapons room that'll likely make the bullet bounce off and hit you right between the eyes as well as attract every one of those monsters near to us? Smart move," Jesse said without lifting his eyes from the pages of his father's journal.

Rachel put her hand over the barrel of Puck's gun and pushed it down with a shake of her head.

"Could always try 1234… or your dad's birthday," Sam suggested, leaning against the wall near the door.

"No, there's something here…" Jesse muttered as he unfolded a bent over page with notes on the weapon's room. "Okay it's three—"

A low creak echoed from somewhere above them in the long hall. Everyone's eyes quickly shot up.

"What was that?" Rachel whispered.

Those with guns raised them up, fully prepared to shoot if they had to.

"Something's up there," Mercedes whispered as the creak echoed again.

They could hear something shuffling above them, making the walls of the ventilation shaft above the ceiling bang eerily.

"Should we shoot it?" asked Kristian.

There was another final creak before a loud snap echoed out and the air vent panel fell down to the floor. Two bodies quickly toppled down with it and crashed with a loud thud.

All guns were quickly aimed down to the dark figures ten feet away from them just in case they were another one of the reanimated. Groans could be heard from across the way as they tried to stand to their feet.

"Hands up!" Jesse snapped immediately.

There was a scoff and they could clearly see one of them putting their hands on their hips.

"Shut up, St. James," said Santana before grabbing Brittany's hand and leading her over to the group. "I swear to god, if you would have shot me—Oh, hi, Quinn."

Quinn had silenced her in an immediate hug and pulled a silent Brittany in as well.

"I thought you two—"

"We got away from those things by getting into the vents. But this place is so huge that they went on for fucking ever and it wasn't until now that we got out."

Brittany nodded and kept her eyes down.

"You okay, Britt?" Quinn asked softly.

"She's not talking much," Santana murmured.

Rachel's face fell further at the sight of the blonde. The fear on Brittany's face was as clear as day. She stood there twirling her hair between her fingertips to busy herself. For a girl who was usually so innocent and who almost seemed to live in her own fantasy world, she now looked so incredibly shattered to find out that the dark side of make believe was very real. Monsters did exist. This time, they weren't just creeping out from closets or under the bed and Lord Tubbington or Santana couldn't just cast them away.

A loud beep rang out and the sound of a lock shifting came through the door. Everyone turned around to find Jesse slipping his hand from the keypad after just entering the code. "Let's get what we need."

He pulled the heavy metal door open and took a tentative step inside. The lights immediately came on after being activated by a motion sensor, revealing what looked like a giant walk-in safe to the group. There were racks lining the walls with guns of all kinds. Shot guns, pistols, semi-automatics. It was all there. Down underneath all the racks were drawers of ammunition for each kind of weapon.

Given all that they had been through, one would think that a sight like this would come as a shining beacon of hope and relief, but the fact that a weapons hoard of this magnitude was just hiding away here in a family's home was a little unsettling. What on earth could Jesse's dad have predicted needing these for?

But for any of them, there was no need to question what was now a blessing to them, because now it gave them all a chance.

"Alright, everyone grab a gun. Be careful," Jesse said as he reached for the ammunition drawer to stock up for his handgun. Finding an even more powerful Magnum, he stuffed it in his jeans for future use.

"This baby is mine," said Puck as he grabbed the biggest and baddest looking one of them all. "Now let's go and kick some ass. I'm ready!"

Blaine shook his head and reached for a smaller gun.

"You know all the guys that are all gung ho in the movies get killed off, right?" he asked Puck as he tried to find out how to eject the ammo magazine. "Don't be a stereotype."

After a few minutes of awkward lessons on how to hold, reload, and use a gun, every one of their group was armed and ready. There were some who were previously reluctant to holding something so powerful, but with the thought of death possibly being so close, nobody wanted to take the risk. Even Brittany who had initially cringed managed to take one and wouldn't let go of it for her life after.

"Wish we could carry more," said Sam as he slung a backpack over his shoulder.

Rachel looked down at her gun and stood up a little straighter, gaining some confidence from the knowledge that she could protect herself. Now that she was fully armed, she couldn't hold Jesse's hand like before. With her weapon and the strength of the group around her, she felt as though she didn't really need it as much as before. Smiling up at her new boyfriend, she leaned up on her tip toes and pressed a quick kiss to his cheek before they set out back down the halls to the entrance hall.

* * *

><p>They all stood there gathered where this really all began. The large wooden doors where The New Directions had walked through hours before stood there, tempting them with another means of escape. Even though they remembered what happened to their group the first time they tried to leave, it was still just as tempting.<p>

"Thank you," Jesse said as he turned to the group. "I know… I know I haven't treated you guys the best in the past. But I know you could go right out there and take your chances now that you're armed. But to be honest, I kind of need you guys right now. I need to find my sister and maybe my mom. You guys can find Finn… And hopefully, we take down my dad or get enough evidence down there to get him charged for the crimes he's done."

"He's killed part of our own, too, you know," said Kurt. "So this is personal. But you're welcome."

"Good luck, everyone," said Rachel.

She turned to Jesse and playfully punched his arm. "Ready to kick some Umbrella ass?"

He raised a slightly amused brow and leaned into her.

"Even fully armed, you're still so cute. How do you do that?"

"Talented," she said in a playful smugness.

"Hate to interrupt, but how exactly do we get down to these laboratories? We don't really have any signs…" said Sam.

Jesse smiled and walked up the steps to the grand staircase. He stopped at the top where there was the giant portrait of the St. James family from years before when the kids were all small. It was eerie in that Jensen St. James looked almost exactly like Jesse today. The sight of it made Jesse clench his jaw, but he quickly looked away from in search of a sort of key hole. Holding the old key he found with the journal, he ran his fingertips along the edge of the golden portrait. His finger grazed a small hole and he licked his lips nervously before trying the key.

"Step back," he said as the portrait swung forward.

The only thing behind the portrait was a rickety old elevator with no lights and one button on the back wall.

"This looks promising," muttered Kurt.

Surprisingly it was Rachel to take the first step forward.

"Any day now, guys," she snapped before the rest of them filtered in after.

With all of them inside, Jesse hit the button against the wall and an old metal grate came out to begin their descent into the sublevels of the mansion. The lower they descended, the brighter the elevator got. When it finally reached the bottom, there was a ding and the metal grate slid open to reveal a very brightly lit room.

The walls and floors were made of glossy metal that was so clean that they could see their reflection in it as they walked by. Everything looked so pristine and sanitized. It was hard to think that any kind of sickness that caused those monsters could have been developed anywhere like this.

"Where do we go from here?" Rachel whispered as she peered around at all the different rooms down the hall.

"Wish I knew…" Jesse replied for only her to hear.

As they continued down, he was hoping for some sort of sign to show itself to him because he didn't have a memory good enough to recall the entire map that he had seen on the wall inside his father's private lab upstairs.

"Hey…guys?" Blaine called out, pointing over to one of the doors cracked open. They could barely see light flickering from inside from a projector that was running.

Jesse nodded and pushed the door open a little to see if it was secure. It was.

On the wall was a projection of a slide that was up for a presentation at some point. The empty chairs in the room were overturned and papers were scattered everywhere, leaving them to think that it didn't go over too well. But it was what was being projected on the screen that freaked them out the most.

There was an image of a giant figure of what resembled a mutated version of a human. It had the usual form of a body, except that it was about three feet taller than the average man. Its arms and shoulders were bulked up with muscle that had to have been created with some sort of steroid. Its fist was probably as big as Jesse's head alone. The other arm's hand had long claws that extended down to its feet as well as a stinger that shot out of the palm.

Next to it were the words that read…

"Project Tyrant," said Kristian. "The ultimate biological weapon."

Sam nodded and raised his phone to take a picture.

"Evidence obtained," he muttered.

Rachel walked away from the group and back to the computer where the entire power point was up so she could try and click through the rest of it or back it up for more proof later. She clicked back through images of zombies, zombified dogs, as well as other animals he had tested on. When she got to the cover page, it had Jesse's father's name right on it.

"Jesse…" Rachel squeaked.

"What the hell is wrong with him?" Jesse whispered with a shake of his head.

"Oh, Jesse… Don't say that…"

Jesse's blood ran ice cold at the sound of the voice that he automatically recognized. His head whipped around to find his father standing there next to a terrified Rachel. The sight of Jensen St. James filled his sons with rage and they quickly drew their weapons on him.

"Not so fast," Jensen said before quickly grabbing Rachel and holding her tightly to him. He had something held against her neck that Jesse couldn't see from the bright light of the projection blinding him.

"Let her go," he said, lunging forward with his weapon still raised.

"Not another step, Jesse," his father snapped.

"Jesse…" Kristian whispered. "That's a needle in his hand."

"What's in that?" Jesse asked, still aiming the gun right between his dad's eyes.

"This right here is a little virus that has caused everything you saw upstairs. Take one more step forward and your little bitch becomes one of them."

"Oh fuck you," Jesse growled through gritted teeth. "What do you want?"

"Don't seem so mad. You're the ones who are meddling in things that aren't your business and going in places you don't belong."

"You took Lacey and one of their group! How does that not make it our business?" Jesse snapped back. "People have died!"

"I told you a long time ago that you're not allowed to have any guests in forbidden areas. You've broken that and those who were lost have faced the consequences to that," he said simply.

"And Lacey? Where is she?" asked Kristian. "We know you've been testing on her. And mom."

"This is bigger than them. This is bigger than everything," he replied.

"Please, just let her go," Jesse whispered, keeping his eye on the tip of the needle that was so close to piercing her skin. "Just tell us what you want."

"Follow me," said Jensen, grabbing Rachel even tighter and yanking her out of the room and back into the main hall.

"I swear to God, if you hurt her…"

"Shut up, Jesse," his dad snapped. "Unless you don't want to see where your mother is... So if you want to see her…"

Jesse's eyes widened.

"Mom's alive?"

There was no reply.

They reached a room with another keypad and Jensen entered the code to grant them access. When the light on the pad flashed green, the door slid open automatically.

"Inside and don't touch anything," said Jensen as he pulled Rachel along with him up to the far end of the room where there was a metal slab with a covered figure on top of it.

"Is that…" Jesse began, but stopped when his father turned to face him.

"You know all those times when your mother and I said that we were going on a couple's vacation outside the country? Wintering in Bali…All that?"

Jesse and Kristian nodded silently.

"Well we were down here the whole time. Working things that will shape the world forever."

"Killing people is more like it," said Kristian.

"You must understand, Jesse. You have such a passion for your performing and your dreams. You'd do anything to make them happen. Well science is my passion and I've done everything I had to do to get to where I am. Sometimes there needs to be… sacrifices."

"Sacrifices?"

"We did what we had to do. And when the outbreak occurred, steps needed to be taken to avoid suspicion. So I took your mother and faked our disappearance while the virus spread. I was working on an early version of the anti-virus with no one else to use for my studies and well… an interesting thing happened."

He smirked and moved the tip of the needle along Rachel's throat teasingly, causing her to squeeze her eyes shut and whimper.

"Stop!" Jesse shouted, his voice shaky with terror. "…Please."

"Then you bring all these witnesses here and try and gain evidence to accuse me of a crime…Tisk tisk. We can't have that."

Jensen let go of Rachel and shoved her in Jesse's direction.

"Are you alright?" he whispered, receiving a silent nod and a tight hug.

Turning his attention back to his father, he watched as he pulled the sheet off the figure on the metal slab near him. He opened his mouth to ask what it was, but the words died in his throat as he registered it. It was a mutated and disfigured version of a human that had become something of a monster. Still, despite the long claws and the gray tinge of the skin, he recognized that blonde hair. The heart that was now exposed and beating away visibly in her chest was still the same heart of the woman who raised him.

He watched with a quivering lip as Jensen injected something into her that seemed to wake her from her slumber.

"When you're done here, you'll find me in the next room with Lacey. If you make it, that is."

"Dad!" Krisitan shouted, running forward like a confused little boy being abandoned.

Jensen simply turned his back on him and stepped into the next room. Before Kristian could step back, the monster whipped her arm at him and knocked him back a few feet onto his back with a loud thud.

Behind them, Puck raised his shotgun and cocked it to get ready for battle. Some of the others followed suit and raised their weapons to begin their attack.

"No, don't you fucking dare!" Jesse shouted, running forward to cover the creature that was staring blankly at them with very similar brown eyes that Jesse knew so well. "That's my mom!"

"Jesse…" Rachel started, running forward and grabbing his hand. "That's not her anymore. You need to—"

The creature let out an ear shattering roar that made a few of them jump.

"No… she's just sick. She can be cured… She's still in there!" Jesse insisted, turning away from Rachel and grabbing onto the monster's arm. "Mom… Mom! It's Jesse. It's me. Please—"

She tilted her head and scanned Jesse for a moment as though trying to remember something when the memory was too hazy to clearly see. Giving up, she screeched and knocked Jesse back with a strong shove of her arms.

"Sorry, Jesse. She's gotta go," said Puck as he aimed.

"NO! Put the gun down!" Jesse cried, raising his gun up at Puck.

"Jesse!" Rachel hissed, reaching for his arm to make him lower his gun. "I'm sorry, Jesse. But she's not herself anymore. I…I'm sorry."

Her lip quivered as she took her own gun and aimed it at his mother, squeezing her eyes shut as she pulled the trigger and fired the first shot.

"No!" he shouted, but was drowned out by the sound of his mother crying out in pain.

Suddenly, her brown eyes turned bright red. Fueled with rage, she charged at the group before her and taking as many swipes as she could. The spray of bullets from their guns had no effect on her as she came at Rachel.

Jesse saw it and reluctantly raised his gun to add to the firing. But before he could, she knocked him back again and made him let go of the handgun.

Across the room, Kristian was watching in horror and still feeling like a small child. His father abandoned them to this horror and his mother trying to kill them. Somewhere, his twin sister was probably mutating into something very similar. How he wished he could just take a hit of something to lose touch with this reality that he most certainly didn't sign up for.

"Brittany, get back!" Santana shouted as the monster that was formerly Katherine St. James took a swipe at her. She ran to cover the blonde, but was knocked onto the floor by Blaine who saw the creature lunge at her. Missing Santana still had fatal consequences as she ended up taking a swipe at Brittany and slashing her middle wide open.

"San…" Brittany whispered, the color completely drained from her face as her knees buckled and she fell to the floor.

"Britt!" Santana screamed, trying to push herself up to her feet, but had trouble out of twisting her ankle in the fall. She screamed a flood of obscenities at the creature and tried to yank Puck's weapon out of his hands to fire at her with the most powerful weapon she could manage. But her hands shook far too much for her to even get a clear shot and she gave up the attempt to tend to the dying Brittany.

"It's okay, Britt. I'm here. It's okay…"

By now, all the screams and cries had died down to Jesse. Everything was silent except for the deep beating of his mother's heart that ripped through him. She was killing his group and he had to act. He had to prevent her from going after the rest. Tears filled his eyes as he pushed himself up to his feet and grabbed the Magnum from his jeans. He wiped the streak of tears from his cheek and aimed at the creature.

"I'll do it," he told Puck before he could blast her away.

Kristian looked over at Jesse from across the room and their eyes connected for a second. The younger St. James nodded and looked away with his eyes squeezed shut.

"Mom!" Jesse called out, making her turn back and look at him.

Looking back at him, her eyes turned that shade of brown and he could see the woman who held him when he was small. He didn't have very many memories of her because of how distant she was, but now the little memories he had were all flooding back. He heard her singing to him and saw her smile when he picked her flowers from the estate gardens. How he had forgotten all of this, he didn't know. But now it was hitting him harder than ever before. More than anything, he could feel the love that she had for him. It was a love that he had denied for so long and force himself to believe didn't exist. But now he knew it was real, and he knew it was true. The sound of the heart beating in her chest was what soothed him to sleep as a baby when she held him close. Closing his eyes, he allowed himself to listen to it for a final second before the inevitable.

"I'm so sorry…and… and, I love you."

He squeezed the trigger and sent a blast right at her heart, causing her to cry out one final time before falling to the floor in a lifeless heap. The beating slowed down to a pace that was torturous. He stood there shaking as he watched her take her last few heavy breaths.

Then it all stopped.

Rachel silently came up from behind him and buried her face against his back, trying to wrap her arms around him for comfort. Too weak to take what just happened, Jesse's knees gave way and he fell down over his mother's body in a fit of sobs that ripped through him.

"It's… It's gonna be…" she tried to say, but shook her head. "I'm so sorry, Jess."

Across the room, Santana sat with Brittany in her arms and letting out a few sobs of her own.

"I'm cold," Brittany whispered. "I want to go home."

"We're gonna go home now, Britt," Santana replied as she smoothed her hair with a trembling hand.

"Tired…" the blonde whispered.

Santana squeezed her eyes shut in a futile attempt to hold herself together. Opening them again, she forced a weak smile in hopes that it would calm the girl she loved.

"Close your eyes and think happy thoughts. We're far away from here…"

"Sunshine and meadows…" Brittany whispered before a cough ripped through her. "Flowers…"

"All those things," Santana replied. "All those things and more, baby."

"…And you and me," Brittany whispered with a half smile.

Santana pressed her lips together to hold back the sob that was fighting to escape as she nodded. She was about to say something else when she realized that Brittany was gone. Eyes still open and with that small smile still on her face, but she was gone.

The rest of New Directions watched as Santana grieved while shedding tears of their own. Jesse and Rachel were still in their own world by the body of his mother and Kristian sat in the corner staring off at the door with wide eyes.

Reaching for his gun, he pushed himself up and walked to it with his brown eyes now almost black in an almost crazed fury.


	14. Bitten

After all the death and terrorizing moments Rachel had experienced over the last few hours, you'd think she would have cried herself dry. Watching people who were like her own family die before her eyes without any way of stopping it was crippling. Add on the fear of joining them at any given second, and she was constantly close to being a wreck. But somehow through it all, she managed to always pull herself back together and walk on like the strong woman she had to be. She didn't necessarily feel it, but she knew she had to be it. Perhaps the strength came from Jesse, with his brazen fearlessness that he displayed whenever he walked ahead and stared death in the face to protect her.

But seeing him now slumped over in a mess against the remains of what was his mother ripped her like nothing else had. Seeing the one who was always so strong just break down terrified her in a way unlike the biters had been able to. Knowing she was powerless to stop it made it all so much worse. She could rub his back and whisper words of just how sorry she was, but that wouldn't bring back his mother. That wouldn't mend the newly ripped open hole in his heart. What on earth could she possibly do?

To add even more to her worries, Jesse's loss wasn't the only one in the room. The team was also in mourning after watching Brittany die. Her lifeless body lay in a pool of her own blood with a distraught Santana clinging to her. Sniffles and whimpers could be heard from around the room and it only made Rachel's own tears come down harder. She was always so emotionally triggered that way.

But with Jesse's dad in the other room and a world that seemed to be collapsing around them with each second, she wasn't sure they should stay put here. If no one was going to be the strong one and move them forward, she would have to step up. Jesse had been strong for her before and now she'd just have to return the favor.

"Jesse—"

The sound of Kristian kicking the door to the next room jolted her up and brought most of the people in the room out of their mournful bubble. Even Jesse looked up with his eyes completely red from all the tears shed.

"Kris…," he muttered, his voice cracking from just how drained he was. "Wait."

Kristian kicked the door even harder, but this time to just let out his frustrations.

Across the room, Santana looked up with complete hate in her eyes and shot a look over at Jesse.

"You're a son of a bitch, St. James," she spat.

Jesse looked back at her slowly, mentally too far gone to really retaliate.

"Yeah, you heard me. This is all your fault. You and your batshit family," she said, pointing a shaking finger in his direction.

Anxieties rushed through Rachel as she observed it all, hoping that it wouldn't escalate any further and require her to have to prevent a fight. To make her even more nervous, Jesse didn't even bother defending himself. He just sat there and took it.

"Santana…" Rachel murmured as she leaned her head against Jesse's arm.

"No. Fuck this," she growled as she pushed herself up to her feet. "If you would have let us kill that bitch of a mother of yours, Brittany would still be alive!"

This lit a match in Jesse and he quickly shot up to his feet. Taking that as a challenge, Santana lunged forward and smacked him as hard as she could before being grabbed by Puck. She screamed for him to let go of her, but he didn't until she actually went and bit his arm.

"Just stop!" Rachel screamed, looking over her shoulder as she had her arms around her boyfriend.

Still enraged to the brink of near insanity, Santana drew her weapon on Jesse and pointed it right in between his eyes. Just seconds into her move, Kristian had grabbed his own and pointed it at her.

"Don't even," he growled. "I've lost enough family today."

Rachel had moved forward in an attempt to cover Jesse, but he quickly pushed her behind him.

"I know it doesn't seem this way to you, but we're in the same boat. We've both been fucked over and lost people we care about. Instead of pointing that thing at me, you should come with me and help me kill my father," he said quietly.

"Sounds good to me," Kristian said with his gun still zoned on Santana.

"Put the gun down," Jesse whispered to her.

"Like hell I am. Say goodbye, St. James," she growled.

"No!" Rachel cried, grabbing onto Jesse's arm to try and pull herself forward, but he kept holding her back. "I swear to god, Santana! If you hurt him… I… I'll…"

She grabbed her weapon and pointed it at her.

"Don't think I won't," she said, never feeling more serious in her life.

"ENOUGH!" Quinn screamed from the sidelines. "Look at yourselves! Guns in your hands and about to shoot each other?! Jesus Christ, I know you've lost people you love but killing each other doesn't bring them back and it definitely doesn't make us any different from those monsters out there!"

Kristian clenched his jaw and looked between Quinn and Santana in thought.

Santana squeezed her eyes shut and a few tears rolled down her cheeks.

Rachel's arm quivered, but she stood strong.

"Put it down, Rach," Jesse whispered. "That's not you."

"No. She's trying to take you away from me," she replied with her face contorted in the most mental fury she had ever displayed.

Jesse just grabbed her and pulled her into his arms, making her immediately melt into his embrace and begin sobbing against his chest as she held onto him. "If you kill him, you'll have to kill us both!" she cried, lunging at Santana through the hold Jesse had on her.

But Santana stayed put, trying to calculate just what she should do. She could see Kristian still aiming his gun at her.

"Santana," Quinn whispered, reaching her hand onto her wrist and gently squeezing it. This time her own voice was cracking and there was a sense of urgency in her eyes. "Please."

All she could do was nod. She opened her mouth to say something, but it only made her lips quiver and she couldn't take it. So she just dropped the gun and let Quinn pull her into a much needed hug.

"We need to move on," Kristian said as he put his gun back.

Jesse nodded and looked down at the body of what was once his mother. He let out one shaky breath and bent down to rest his hand on her.

"Goodbye," he whispered.

Spotting an Umbrella keycard that had fallen out of her pocket, he grabbed it and flipped it over to see her face in the way she used to look like. Beautiful and smiling. This was how he wanted to remember her. He pocketed it and stood back up.

"Let's go," he said to the rest.

"I'm staying," Santana murmured as she turned back to go sit next to Brittany's body. "When you finish whatever it is you're doing… I'll be here."

"That doesn't sound like a great idea," Kurt said slowly.

"I'll stay with her," said Quinn before sinking down to her knees next to Santana. "We'll catch up. I'll make sure of it."

"Be careful, Quinn," Rachel said as she wiped her cheek with the back of her still trembling hand.

A few of the others spoke some short goodbyes and well wishes before following Jesse, Rachel, and Kristian into the other room.

But Jensen and Lacey were nowhere to be found. Neither was Finn, for that matter.

"Fuck!" Kristian growled.

"Keep moving," said Jesse as he charged forward to the end of the room where there was a staircase down into the darkness. "And be careful."

The sound of their footsteps quickly pattering down the metal stairs echoed as they ran down as far as the stairs could take them. When they reached the bottommost landing, they all stopped when they caught sight of two large trains sitting in their stations.

"Those must be emergency trains," Blaine observed. "That's how we could get out of here."

"Sure. Does anyone know how to drive a train?" Mercedes asked sarcastically.

"Fair enough," he replied before they moved on.

Off in the distance, Rachel caught sight of an elevator closing. In the second before it closed, she had just enough time to make out Jensen's face.

"He went down the elevator," Rachel pointed out. "I just saw him."

"That's where we're going then," said Jesse as he began speed walking over.

"Wait…" Rachel said as she stepped ahead of them to block the elevator. "Before we go, there's something I need to say."

"We don't have time," said Kristian impatiently.

"Let her speak," said Kurt.

"Thank you," she murmured.

"Just make it fast then. Because I seriously want to kick some ass right now after all this," said Puck.

She nodded and wrung her hands together.

"I just wanted to tell you all that we're going to win this. I know things seem bleak now and we seem to keep losing more and more of our group. People we love and care about… But we're not going to let it kill us. We're not going to let him or any of those things out there take any more of us. And… and we're all going to get out of here… and move on with our lives. Me and Kurt are going to New York to NYADA. Jesse will be by my side and going on to be the star that he is. And Quinn… Quinn will go off to Yale and graduate at the top of her class. All of us are going to make it. We're gonna graduate and live in honor of those who didn't get to."

Many of the group looked down and nodded.

"No more deaths," she whispered. "No more. Let's win this."

Jesse reached out for her hand and squeezed it. It was a silent move to try and absorb some of her strength because he really needed it right now. Knowing this without even needing an explanation, she kissed his cheek and pressed the button for the elevator to come up for them.

The ride down was silent. What words could really be said now after so much and especially when they knew so little about what they'd find when they got down there?

All it took was the ding of the elevator for them to find out.

The doors hadn't even opened and they heard it. They heard all of it.

Hundreds of mixed groans from the undead walking around the open area before them could be heard before the doors opened.

"Hit the close button!" Kurt shouted, but it was too late. The first of the zombies to sense that they weren't alone had reached his clammy hand onto the door to try and get to them.

"No you don't!" Rachel shouted, grabbing a knife she had taken from the weapons room and cutting the limb right off with more ease than she thought it would require.

There wasn't even time to comment on that badass move of hers because they all had to quickly go into action mode.

"Get in. Get through. Find a way out," Jesse instructed them. "Rachel stay close. You too, Kris."

With that, they all ran out into the unfamiliar area in search of a door, any door that might get them to safety.

Gunshots rang out as they battled their way through the hoard of zombies that was coming at them in the greatest number they had ever seen them. They were all what used to be the laboratory workers here, as made evident from their bloody lab coats and Umbrella ID cards pinned to their chests.

"Move!" Puck shouted at Sam as one tried to grab at him. It instead grabbed Puck's gun and had to be shoved away. He pushed on like a warrior and took as many down as he boasted he would.

"The doors are all locked!" Mercedes shouted from the other side of the wide hall as she banged on a door. One of the dead crept up behind her and nearly got her if it hadn't been for Sam who fired a bullet at it to slow it down.

"We have to go back to the elevator!" he shouted.

On the other side of the hall, Rachel and Jesse were holding up pretty well. They had each other's backs and fired at any biter that came close to either of them. Nearby, Kristian was taking out as many as he could and was actually a surprisingly good shot.

"This is the last door and it needs a code…" Rachel observed as she ran her fingers over the keypad.

Jesse nodded and fired a round at a zombie before it could get her.

"And Jesse… it's your mother's office," she said when she caught sight of the name sign on the door.

That was enough to convince him.

"I'll get it. Cover me," he said to his brother and girlfriend as he tried out some combinations for the code.

From across the hall, a scream from one of their own drew all eyes over to it.

One of the biters had succeeded in getting a taste of the flesh they moved for. Blaine had tried to pull away before they had the chance, but there had been far too many nearby.

Noticing Kurt running after him, Rachel grabbed his arm and pulled him back. "I'm sorry. But it's too late. You can't or they'll get you, too!" she shouted, narrowly missing one of the biters in the process.

"You said that no more of us were gonna die!" he shouted. "And I'm not leaving him!"

"But, Kurt!"

He tore himself from her and ran over to Blaine, blasting any one of the biters away without a second of hesitation or fear. Love fueled him and right about now it was really all he needed. When he reached him, he saw the extent of his injuries on his now bloody arm and couldn't believe it.

"No, no, no, no. This is not happening. I'm not losing you, too," he said as he tried to pull him back to where the rest of the group was by the door. "You'll be okay. We'll treat that and you'll be okay."

"No, don't," he replied as he pulled away. "There's no hope for me. You saw what happened to Mr. Schue. You're gonna have to—" He shot a zombie nearby. "-Go on without me."

"How could you expect me to do that?!" Kurt snapped as he grabbed his arm again.

"You have no choice, Kurt!"

With that he grabbed his face and gave him one final kiss before looking over at Puck. "Don't let him come near me."

Puck nodded solemnly and grabbed Kurt before he could try and run to Blaine.

Back at the door, Jesse was running out of ideas for the door password and didn't know what to do. To make matters worse, an alarm started sounding out throughout the entire hall. At first, he thought it was a security mechanism that was going off because he was trying to break into the room, but with the bright red lights flashing around, he knew it was something else. Something worse.

Then the robotic voice came on the loud speakers and made their blood run cold.

_"Biohazard contamination detected in Hall B. Decontamination required. Incineration to begin in 30 seconds… 30…29…28…27…"_

"What's that mean?!" Rachel shouted.

"It means they're gonna torch this entire hall with us in it if we don't get out of here like now!" Jesse replied.

"See? We're all gonna die, now let me go!" Kurt snapped as he ran to be with Blaine.

"Get the door open, St. James!" Puck shouted as he continued to try and hold back the massive volume of zombies coming at them.

"I need more time!" he shouted back. "And these zombies aren't helping!"

"I'll take care of it!" Blaine called out before running around the hall and calling out to the zombies to all come at him. "That's right! Over here! You know you want me!"

Kurt dug his hands into his hair and tried to hold himself together as he watched his boyfriend on a complete suicide mission to save them all.

_"15…14…13…"_

"Jesse…" Rachel cried. "Just give it up and hold me before we die. Please…"

"No, I'll get this," he said, his hands now shaking as he tried another code. "Three letters. Just three letters…"

"JKL!" Kristian shouted. "It's me, you, and Lacey!"

Jesse nodded and typed in the three letters and the door unlocked and slid open.

_"10…9…8…"_

"EVERYONE GET IN! MOVE!" he shouted as he practically grabbed people and threw them in the room.

The last one left was Kurt who was watching as Blaine ran around the hall with the giant group following him.

"No more time, Kurt," Rachel shouted as she grabbed him. "Run!"

"I love you!" he shouted at Blaine as she dragged him off, but by then Blaine was far too swarmed to probably hear it.

With Rachel behind him, he ran into the room just as there was two seconds left. As soon as they were in the safety of the room, Jesse hit the button to lock the door and they all crashed down against whatever surface they could find.

The sound of fire spreading through the hall outside could be heard and they knew Blaine was definitely gone.

But there was no time to mourn. There was no time to sit and cry like before. They had to move on.

But there was one little problem…

"Jesse…" Rachel whispered, slightly out of breath from the run. "Jesse… I'm so sorry… I'm… I'm so sorry."

"What?" he asked, turning to her and grabbing her shoulders gently.

"I wasn't fast enough. I couldn't… and it…" she whimpered as she shook her head. Unable to get the words out, she raised her arm to show him.

Her small hand was covered in blood from the bite she had just obtained just moments ago.

"No…," he whispered, feeling as though the wind had completely been knocked out of him. "Rachel, no!"


	15. Left Behind

Blow after blow was knocking through him, and somehow Jesse was still standing. Barely. He'd been forced to endure more horrors than most people ever face and somehow he was still there. He had accepted that he would be in for a life of waking up in the middle of the night from horrific flashbacks to this night. But the thought that he would have Rachel there was always the comfort. Maybe he had lost everyone else, but at least he still had the woman he loved by his side. There was a bright light at the end of the tunnel. There was hope, and while he was a man who usually severely lacked in it-he had faith. Because if there was one thing Jesse had ever believed in more than anything, it was Rachel.

That all shattered that night with one small bite to the hand.

One tiny bite had made his entire world come crashing down around him and there really wasn't anything he could do about it. He had seen what happened when someone got bitten by one of the undead. Mr. Schuester's turn served as an example of everything Rachel was about to go through. He hadn't been there for the entire thing, but he saw enough of the symptoms and he didn't want to witness Rachel experience them. Most importantly, he didn't want to watch her die and come back as just another one of the lifeless undead fueled by nothing but eternal hunger for flesh. The life would drain from her eyes and she wouldn't recognize any of them. Everything about their love and all that they went through to get to this point would completely cease to be.

Then he would have to do the unthinkable…

"I'm _so_ sorry…" Rachel repeated, trembling from head to toe where she stood.

Jesse shook his head and took a step towards her, feeling his knees threatening to buckle under him.

"This isn't happening," he whispered, reaching for her hand to take a closer look.

There it was, the tiny little bite that would do her in.

Around them, the rest of New Directions watched in just as much horror. For a moment, they couldn't really say anything because they had been knocked down so many times that it was just so hard to react anymore. Kurt who was still quite emotional over losing his boyfriend, watched with his eyes wide as he processed the fact that his best friend was going to die.

"It's small," Jesse stammered. "Maybe if we cleaned it up…Maybe there won't be an infection and maybe—"

"You know that's not true," Rachel whispered. "Jesse—"

"No. You're going to be okay," he cried, running around the room for any sign of something to help. "Maybe a first aid kit or something is here and—"

"Jesse…" Puck called with a shake of his head.

"No. It doesn't have to be this way. We can fix it and she'll be okay." He looked at Rachel. "You'll be okay!"

She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head as even more tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Baby, stop," she protested. "We need to deal with this."

"I am dealing with this. And everyone else here should be, too! Help me find a fucking first aid kit!" he snapped.

Fed up, he grabbed one of the knives they had grabbed from the weapons vault and cut a piece of his sweater sleeve off.

"There's some hand sanitizer…" offered Mercedes.

"That'll have to do for now," Jesse nodded, grabbing the bottle and twisting off the cap to pour it on the ripped fabric. "Come here…"

Rachel stepped forward and held her hand out for Jesse to tend to it. When the alcohol hit her open wound, she cried out in pain and buried her face against his chest.

"It's gonna be fine. You'll get through this," he promised.

"It's not gonna work this way. You never see anyone snap back from a zombie bite, man!" Puck exclaimed. "She's gonna—"

"_Die…_" Rachel whispered.

"Don't! All you know is one case and whatever the hell you saw in movies. That's not enough for me. There's got to be something we can do. We're in a goddamn science lab for god's sake!"

"I don't feel so good," Rachel whispered.

"This is totally gruesome but, maybe if we cut off her hand?" asked Sam.

"What?" Rachel squeaked.

Jesse looked down at the knife in his hand and thought about it for a second, but then quickly shook his head.

"I'm not doing that to you," he said quickly.

"I can. If it saves her—"

"I love Rachel as much as you do, but why couldn't we have done this to save Blaine?" asked Kurt from where he sat in the corner. "Blaine never got a chance…"

"I'm sorry about Blaine, but he's gone now."

"And soon she will be too… I'm sorry, Rachel," Kurt whispered.

"Look… what needs to be done is kind of obvious and you seem too weak to do it so…" Puck began as he stepped forward.

He put a hand on Rachel's shoulder and looked down at her sadly.

She nodded.

"He's right," she murmured.

"I can do it," he offered.

In a quick second, Jesse's fist collided with Puck's jaw for even suggesting that.

"Stop!" Jesse snapped. "Don't you even consider that!"

"You don't mean…" Sam muttered.

Rubbing his sore jaw, Puck shot Jesse a glare and resisted from hitting him back.

"I'm gonna let that slide now because you're about to lose your girl. But, letting her suffer and become one of those things is worse than just putting her out of her misery."

"I'm not killing my girlfriend!" Jesse shouted, reaching for Rachel's good hand and pulling her close.

"Jesse, I want this. I get a say in what happens to me and he's right. I don't… I don't want to become one of those things and try to hurt you. I want this. Please," she implored him, reaching for a handful of his sweater and clinging to it. "Please."

He raised his hands to cup her cheeks and shook his head.

"I can't…"

"You have to."

"I need you, Rach," he murmured in a faint whisper. It was never something that was easy to admit, needing someone. Jesse St. James was always a man who considered himself entirely self sufficient and the definition of an island. But the thought of those brown eyes ceasing to exist made him feel the complete terror of emptiness. Losing her would be losing everything… especially now.

"Do you really think I'd ever leave you?" she asked, rubbing her thumb along his cheekbone softly. Somehow through all the pain and fear of her own imminent death, she still managed to smile. "I'm going to be there with you through everything. When you get to New York… and when you star in your first Broadway show… when you win your Tony… I'll be there with you."

"How can I do all those things without you? We were supposed to do it together…"

"You'll have to do it for both of us, then," she replied in the most soothing voice her terrified self could manage. "Whenever you need me, Jesse… just look at the stars, okay? That's where I'll be."

With that, she leaned up to press her lips to his, clinging to his shirt with all her life. He held onto her just as tightly as he kissed her back, knowing that when he let go it would have to be the end. She tried to break the kiss first, but shook her head as a sob ripped through her. Seeing her cry had the same effect on him and he quickly pulled her back into his arms to hold her in a tight embrace.

"I love you so much," she murmured against his ear. "I always will."

"Love you, too," he whispered, pulling back to kiss her once more.

She pecked his lips one last time and took a painful step back.

"Okay… I'm ready."

"I'll do it," said Puck. "You shouldn't have to."

"No, I want him to. Jesse, please," Rachel pleaded, pulling her gun out and handing it to him. "You're the only one I want to save me from becoming a monster."

Jesse took the gun and stared at it for a second.

Before him, Rachel knelt down and grabbed his other hand.

"Please," she murmured, kissing it gently.

"Okay," he whispered as he raised the gun. "I'm so sorry, baby."

She looked up at him and gave him a weak smile before closing her eyes in preparation.

He pressed the barrel of the gun to her head and it made himself feel so sick. He had no idea how he was going to go on after this.

"Don't do it, Jesse," said Kristian.

"He has to," said Puck.

"He doesn't have to do anything," said Sam.

"Please…" Rachel whispered. "Jesse… set me free."

She squeezed his other hand and Jesse nodded, placing his finger over the trigger.

"Goodbye, Rachel…" he whispered, closing his eyes.

"Bye, Jesse…"

"STOP!" Kristian shouted. "Don't do it! There's an anti-virus!"

Rachel and Jesse's eyes snapped open as they quickly looked over in Kristian's direction.

He stood by his mother's desk, looking at an open file folder.

"A-An anti-virus?" Rachel asked.

Jesse quickly tossed the gun aside and pulled her up into his arms.

"I can't believe you almost made me do that!" he whispered harshly.

"I-I'm gonna live?" she asked, still in a state of shock.

"Damn right. I promise. We're both getting out of here in one piece, just like I said."

"Where's this anti-virus, though?" she asked, leaning her head against his chest and looking over in Kristian's direction.

"She was working on it. Countering what Dad was doing because she knew the truth… she had it hidden… but the fact that the folder was out in the open can't be good. He must have seen it…"

"Where is it, Kris?" Jesse asked in a rush.

"Two levels up. Everything we need is here. We need to move fast, though."

"He can't get there first. No fucking way," Jesse growled.

"Let's just hope this other door can take us there," said Sam, pointing to the only other door in the room.

Who knew what to expect if they opened the door they came from? This was the only way.

Rachel leaned down to pick up the gun Jesse had tossed aside and held it in her uninjured hand.

"You stay close to me, okay? Don't leave my side," Jesse insisted quietly.

"Okay," she whispered. "Let's go."

The group trudged on through the only open door and up two flight of nearby stairs. Luckily, there were no roamers in the area to slow them down or take out any more of their group.

"Jesse… about before…" Puck began as they reached the lowest landing.

"Save it," Jesse muttered, not even caring to look back at the bastard.

Rachel turned her head and gave Puck a sympathetic look before continuing on up the stairs.

At the end of the stairwell, there were two doors. One had a sign leading to the labs and the other was the emergency exit that led to the trains.

"Alright. Here's what we're gonna do," said Jesse, spinning on his feet to face the rest. "Sam. I need you to go around those elevators and back to where we came from. Find Quinn and Santana. Mercedes, Kurt and… you," he muttered, eying Puck in disgust. "You go to the trains and see if there's a way to operate it."

"What makes you think that we're just going to listen to—" Puck began.

"Rachel, Kris, and I are going to get the anti-virus," he continued on.

"Sounds good to me," said Mercedes.

"Like hell. I'm going with you guys," insisted Puck.

"Fine," Jesse replied, not having any time for an argument right now when the clock was ticking on Rachel's life.

"Good luck, guys," said Sam as he turned towards the Emergency exit with Mercedes and Kurt.

"Stay safe," Rachel replied before following the now smaller group onward into the labs.

"It's in 23-B," said Kristian, breaking out into a run to find the room. "Come on. That anti-virus is close."

Rachel smiled softly as she watched. The fact that Kristian cared so much now was a real comfort.

"Almost there," Jesse whispered to her.

"Mom's keycard. Give me her keycard," Kristian ordered when he reached the door they needed to open.

Jesse's hands fumbled for the card in his pocket and he quickly tossed it over. Kristian caught it and slid it through the reader. A loud beep rang through as the light on the reader turned green, signaling that they were granted access into the laboratory.

The door slide open automatically and they all rushed through, quickly scanning the room for what they were looking for. The walls were filled with freezers and refrigerators filled with different labeled bottles and test tubes used for the many experiments the employees of Umbrella Corporation used to work on their creations. There must have been hundreds of different ones organized around the large room and it would take ages to go through.

"Did mom say where?" Jesse asked, leaning over Kristian's shoulder to look at the file.

"Keep moving, we'll find it," he insisted as they turned the corner down to another part of the room where there were more freezers. "They're all color coded… We need to find the green one."

Jesse nodded and scanned all the different refrigerators with different colored light fixtures on the inside. "There," he pointed.

Kristian nodded and slid their mother's keycard to open it up. The doors slid open and cold smoke flowed out around their feet.

In the back of the refrigerator was a small metal suitcase with the St. James crest on it and a big letter 'K'.

"Got it," Jesse said quickly as he grabbed it and pulled it open. He fanned his hand around the cold smoke to see the anti-virus, but there was none.

"It's empty!" he groaned, taking the small suitcase and tossing it across the room.

"Oh, no," Rachel whispered as all hope left her.

"Looking for this?"

They all whipped their heads around to find Jensen St. James standing at the far end of the room holding the small green bottle they needed.

"It appears this is the last known sample of the anti-virus. I'll be keeping this,"

"Like hell you are," Jesse growled, reaching for his gun and stepping forward.

Kristian stood up next to him.

"For the last time, where is Lacey?" he asked, all patience gone.

"On the train," their father replied. "Safe and sound."

"Noted," said Kristian, raising his gun and firing at him without a moment of hesitation.

"Fuck," Jesse muttered, running forward to try and catch the anti-virus sample as it flew from Jensen's grasp. He crashed down on the floor and caught it, just barely in his fingertips.

His lips curled into a small smile as he looked back at Rachel.

"I told you, it would all be okay," he beamed.

But behind him, Jensen lay their very much alive. Gritting his teeth, he reached into his pocket for his phone and hit a few buttons that caused an alarm to sound around.

_"WARNING. WARNING. THE SELF DESTRUCT SEQUENCE HAS BEEN ACTIVATED. THE SELF DESTRUCT SEQUENCE HAS BEEN ACTIVATED."_

"God damn!" Jesse shouted. "We have to get out of here!"

"What about the anti-virus?" asked Rachel.

"Come here. We'll do that now. But I need something to inject you with it."

"There's a syringe in the case," said Puck.

Kristian had ignored all of them and charged forward after his father to try and unload another round in him. But he had managed to hide behind a large metal table.

"Come on, Dad. I've got something for you!" he shouted as he climbed up on top of the table and aimed his gun down, but he wasn't there. "Son of a bitch!"

"Right here," Jensen called from the nearby wall where he leaned against a large tube that stretched from the ceiling to the floor. It was frosted over to the point that they couldn't see anything inside.

Smirking that usual St. James smirk, he flipped a nearby switch that made the entire tube glow red from within. The frost started to quickly melt and drip down, revealing what was behind that glass.

"Now, this one didn't get quite as much as the amount of time inside that I wanted, but it should be strong enough now to make things interesting," Jensen smirked as he unbuttoned his jacket to try and loosen the pressure on his bullet proof vest he was now feeling after being shot.

There was a large figure that looked similar to the Tyrant from the Power Point they had seen earlier, but it hasn't yet reached full maturation. The Tyrant from before barely even looked human. This one still maintained some of its human traits and he was easily recognizable.

"Finn!" Rachel cried out, pointing her shaking finger up.

At her exclamation, Finn's eyes opened his eyes to reveal bright red irises.

"Now if you will excuse me… I have a train to catch," said Jensen as he turned for the door.

"Like hell, you won't!" shouted Kristian as he raised his gun again.

But his attention was quickly turned back to Finn when he heard a loud crash coming from within the giant tube. Inside, Finn was trying to punch his way out with as much strength as he could manage.

"He won't break through. Let's do this fast and go," said Jesse quickly as he filled a syringe with the antidote.

But one more punch made the glass actually crack.

"Shit," Puck whispered.

Another punch made a few pieces of glass fly across the room.

Kristian jumped off the table and rolled over to where his brother was.

"Maybe we can do this on the train. You know. Instead of staying here and letting the giant rip us to shreds, you know?" asked Kristian with a snap of his fingers to hurry them up.

"I don't want to wait another second. That virus is in her system and it needs to be treated now," Jesse snapped.

One last punch made the entire tube shatter and Finn charged out, tearing through the giant metal table like it was butter.

He looked between them all and growled, baring his now elongated teeth and clenching his fists that were covered in spikes on his knuckles. A long stinger shot out from his palm and he quickly knocked over a freezer nearby quite effortlessly.

"Alright, now we move," Jesse nodded, grabbing Rachel's arms and pulling her up to her feet so they could make a run for the door.

"I'll slow him down," said Puck as he raised his gun and fired a few shots. "Sorry, bro…"

"No heroic suicides, Noah!" Rachel shouted, grabbing his arm and tugging him with the rest of them.

Finn jumped up on top of another nearby table with so much ease. It was as if the bumbling, uncoordinated idiot that Jesse had known of before. He jumped off the table, right over their heads, and landed right in front of the door they needed to leave from.

"This asshole…" Jesse fumed. "Always in the way of things."

Finn let out something like a roar and slammed another full length freezer down on the floor.

"Head back, we need to get him away from the door!" Puck shouted.

But as fast as they ran, they could never outrun the new super-human version of Finn Hudson. He shot his stinger out from his hand and it wrapped around Jesse's ankle, making him crash down to the cold floor. With his other hand, he grabbed him and raised him up so that his eyes were level with his.

"Oh hell no," Rachel muttered through gritted teeth, grabbing her gun and unloading as many rounds as she could into Finn. Each bullet barely did anything to him and only left tiny marks on his now gray skin. But it was enough to find it irritating and he looked over at Rachel with his red eyes seething with anger.

"Let him go, Finn!" Rachel screamed, still firing at him until her gun started to click from being out of bullets.

Jesse tried to tug himself free, but Finn's grip was impossible to break from. Running out of options, he tried kicking him and punching him. This only fueled the fire inside of Finn and he lost any left over patience with them. So he let Jesse go so he landed to his feet.

Jesse made a quick run for Rachel, but stopped dead in his tracks when he felt a searing pain in his chest. Before realizing what had happened, he caught the look of horror in Rachel's eyes just a few feet away. He stumbled and looked down, seeing the sharp stinger now protruding from his chest. Just before he could raise his hand to touch it, Finn had pulled it back and it ripped right back out of him.

"Rach…" he whispered, the color draining from his face as he touched his chest and saw the blood. His knees immediately grew weak and he fell down to the floor right before her feet.

"Jesse, no!" she cried, completely ignoring the swipe that Finn had taken at her as she dropped down to her knees.

Kristian's eyes were wide as they connected with his brother's for a second. "No. Not you, too. I won't let it…"

Puck nudged Kristian.

"Let's take him out," he said with a nod.

And with that, they ran forward to try and fire at Finn as much as they could so he wouldn't harm anyone else.

Rachel had just grabbed onto Jesse's shoulders when he fell down to the floor because not even his knees could hold him up.

"Stay with me, Jess. Stay with me, baby," she cried as she pulled his head onto her lap.

"I'm… I'll be okay," he muttered, reaching his hand to his chest again to feel how bad the bleeding was. "I—" He coughed and some blood stained his lips. Raising his bloody hand to his eyes, he looked at it in confusion. "I'm dying."

"No. You're Jesse St. James. You're invincible, remember?" she asked as she ran her hand through his hair. "You're the strongest man I know. We're gonna get you out of here… and to a doctor… You're gonna be okay and we're gonna go to New York. Just like you said."

He coughed again and she quickly pressed down on his chest, but it was no use because he had been stabbed right through.

"Rachel… It's no use…" he murmured.

She shook her head frantically and looked around, watching as Puck shot Finn in the chest with a shotgun blast and he fell back into the computer systems against the wall. A surge of electricity shot through him and he let out something close to a roar from all the pain. But she couldn't keep her attention on it for too long, because the love of her life was dying in her arms.

"Help me get him out of here!" she called out to Kristian who had sank to his feet next to her.

Puck stepped behind her and she could only assume that Finn had been taken care of for good.

"Kris…" Jesse whispered. "T-The anti-virus."

Kristian grabbed it from his brother and reached for Rachel's arm, but she tugged away.

"Use it on him!" she demanded.

"That's not gonna save him," said Puck as he sank down on her other side.

"Nothing can," Jesse whispered. "I'm sorry… I'm breaking my promise. But it's gonna be… you… that has to go on."

He brushed his bloody fingertips against her cheek and smiled wearily.

She opened her mouth to refuse, but all that left her was a wince as Kristian shot her with the injection in her arm.

With that taken care of, he looked back at his brother and grabbed his other hand.

"Sorry I wasn't around," Jesse murmured. "I wanted…so much more."

Kristian's eyes welled up with tears as he shook his head.

"It's okay," he replied, not even caring to wipe his own tears away.

"Find Lacey…and watch out for Rachel. Don't be like him. Do good," Jesse said with a squeeze of his hand.

Looking back at Rachel, he licked his lips and pulled her down into a soft kiss.

"You need to go. Time is running out."

"Jesse...don't leave me."

"Do you really think I'd ever leave you?" he repeated her words from before with a sad smile. "I love you. I've always loved you. And I always… I'll always…"

His words died as his eyes fluttered shut.

"No, no, no, no, no!" she screamed, grabbing his shirt and burying her head against his chest with a sob. "Come back! Jesse, come back!"

She slapped her hand against his chest as hard as she could and tried to shake him awake.

"You can't leave me now. Please!"

"We have to go," said Puck as he reached for Rachel's arm, but she jerked away.

"Jesse!" she cried. "I love you, too. I love you so much and I always will! Just come back so I can tell you that…"

Jaw clenched to hold himself together, Kristian grabbed Rachel's arm and Puck grabbed the other to drag her out.

_"FIVE MINUTES UNTIL DETONATION!_" echoed the automated voice from the speakers over the alarms.

_"The automated emergency trains will leave in two minutes to the nearest station. Repeat, the automated emergency trains will leave in two minutes,"_ said the voice again before being drowned out by the blasting alarms.

"Leave me here!" Rachel screamed as she tried to fight her way back to Jesse's body. "LEAVE ME HERE!"

"Jesse wouldn't want that," said Kristian as he looked away to hide even more of his tears.

Fed up, Puck grabbed the end of his shotgun and hit her hard enough to knock her out so he could carry her without her struggling.

"Alright, let's go!" he shouted as they broke out into a run back to the emergency exit where the trains were.

When they reached it, they could see Sam standing near Train A with his arms waving. The lights on the train were flashing and ready to go.

_"Train A departing in 30 seconds…"_

They ran as fast as their tired feet could carry them and jumped onto the train just as the wheels were starting to turn to get it in motion.

Kristian and Puck crashed on the floor of the train, trying hard to catch their breaths.

"Where's Jesse?" asked Sam quietly as he looked between the three of them.

Kristian shook his head and looked around.

"And is she…?"

Puck nodded.

"She'll be fine. Physically, anyway."

"Did you guys check the rest of the train?" Kristian asked hopefully.

"Yeah," said Quinn. "Found some food and supplies."

"Find anyone?" he asked.

Everyone shook their head and his face fell.

"I need to find my sister," he whispered as he looked out at the sky they could now see through the windows. The sun was rising on a brand new day and the sky almost looked hopeful.

Behind them, they could hear a loud explosion that caused the train to rattle a little.

On the shaking floor of the moving train, Rachel began to stir.

"Jesse?" she mumbled before passing out again.

Kristian sighed and put her head on his lap so she could be comfortable.

"Sleep, Rachel. It's better this way. We can deal with the pain later. But for now, sleep."

Deep in Rachel's dreams she was back in Jesse's room tangled up in his embrace and they were sharing sweet kisses that she never thought would end. This kind of love could never end for anything in the world. He looked into her eyes with those sparkling blue-green eyes of his and his smile comforted her in a way that nothing else could.

"I love you, too," she murmured as she brushed her fingertips along his jaw.

"I'll always love you," he whispered. "_Always_."

* * *

><p><em>Five minutes earlier…<em>

* * *

><p>Back at the laboratory, Jensen St. James stood with two other men at his side. A few other men were carrying Finn's body out of the room on a stretcher.<p>

"There. Grab him," he ordered to the two remaining men.

The two of them stepped forward to grab the lifeless body that was Jensen's son. As they did, he groaned softly.

"Still alive. Excellent," he said with a deep smirk. "Now let's get him on the other train. I've got a lot planned for him, now…"

* * *

><p><em>AN: Did you think I'd just let it end there? The story continues in the soon to come in the tragic love story that is the sequel. To be honest, I wanted to get through this one to get to that story because it's seriously going to be so fricken epic. At least, I hope you guys think so. This story was more of a horror/mystery with slight romance, but the next one will be more of a love story with the horror as the setting. Anyway, check back soon for when I post the new story._

_Thanks to everyone who has read this and been patient with me. I especially want to thank those who have reviewed. Till next time!_


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